Business as Usual
by Farmerbob1
Summary: Vlad Taltos, after removing the phoenix stone and returning home to spend time with Cawti and his son, is quite literally thrown into the Worm universe a short time after Golden Morning by Verra. His only instructions are to survive, and be himself. Fortunately, he carried Lady Teldra with him, and, of course, Loiosh and Rozca joined him as well.
1. Prologue

I was relaxed, as is generally required for such things, and disposing of some used klava in the men's restroom of Valabar's when a hand touched my right shoulder next to Loiosh's claws, and gripped, lightly. "Hello, Vlad."

The last time someone put their hand on my shoulder while I was engaged in that particular activity had been when I was fourteen. I had broken that Orca's nose and three of his ribs. Partly for scaring me so badly, and partly because he was an Orca.

I'm sorry, I've drifted off topic. My history with the Orca is a story for another time.

In any case, after several years on the run from the Jhereg, my reflexes were still on automatic, and very reactive. As the hand touched my shoulder, my right hand shifted from the usual placement for klava disposal efforts to the closest dagger that would allow a clean, rapid draw.

The attacker was behind me, the restroom wall was in front of me, and there were heavy marble privacy dividers to my right and left. There was nothing above me I could jump to or grab. There was only one direction for me to move, and my attacker had to know it.

As I started to desperately spin towards the attacker, dropping my shoulder into the attack, Loiosh screamed into my head. _Behind you, Boss!_

I was a little preoccupied, and didn't reply. Loiosh was acting on instinct anyway, having clearly been surprised himself.

While my right hand was reaching for a steel dagger, my left hand left my left hip where it had been holding my trousers, and raised towards the right armpit sheath where Lady Teldra was located that day. I knew my reaction was too little, too late to avoid the hit, but Lady Teldra might allow me to survive what would otherwise kill me. I was expecting to feel the horrible echo of mental hunger of an unsheathed morganti blade before it was buried in my back.

 _This isn't where I wanted to die, Loiosh._ I complained at Loiosh as I continued spinning. He was in a bit of a panic, and didn't respond. I got a sensation of terror and rage from him, directed at my attacker.

Loiosh and Rozca were still in the process of throwing themselves backwards and off my shoulders when my attacker's right hand slipped off my right shoulder. Surprisingly, there wasn't a morganti blade in me yet.

 _That mistake will cost you. Sloppy gets you killed._

I had already made the connection that the attacker had to have been using a concealment spell which was extraordinarily good if Loiosh hadn't spotted anything odd. He's far better than any human (no matter how you define 'human') at spotting anything less than a perfect illusion.

Somewhere deep in my mind where the automatic reactions weren't in control, a little voice of reason tried to make itself heard. Something was wrong. Anyone with that good of a concealment spell, with me as a target, wouldn't be so sloppy for the hit itself. They would have gripped my shirt or shoulder tightly, depending on the size and strength of their hands, to at least partly control my motion as the killing blow was dealt. Not only that, but I should have been feeling the presence of the morganti blade almost from the same instant the hand touched me, and I still hadn't felt it. I ignored the little voice.

What? Don't look at me like that. All those stories about brilliant people who think through everything and always come to the right decision after considering all the possibilities are absurd. You don't live long as an assassin if you take time to think about everything that happens, as it happens. You plan the hit in advance, and you plan in detail. If anything goes wrong, you bail, and try later. On the other side of the coin, you certainly won't live long when being chased by assassins if you try to analyze everything before acting to save yourself. You act automatically, on your instincts. Good instincts and you live. Bad instincts and you die. I've been an assassin, and been hunted by assassins. I am still alive. I trust my instincts first, and consider my second thoughts and little internal voices later.

A moment later, my turn to face my assailant was complete. My right hand was holding a dagger at mid-height, defensively, pointed at the chest of a very tall woman, standing two steps from me, a slight smile on her face under glittering eyes and dark hair. Recognition of her facial features and a quick glance at her fingers verified who she was supposed to be, which might also explain why the concealment spell had been able to fool Loiosh.

The woman spoke in a strange, doubled voice, sounding like two voices speaking only a tiny bit out of synch with one another. "Sorry to have interrupted you, Vlad. I needed to talk to you privately."

That voice ended any doubt in me that it really was the goddess Verra standing there. Everyone hears the voices of the gods differently, and I'd never told anyone who was not completely trustworthy what Verra sounded like to me. Even then, I'd never psionically allowed anyone else to hear her voice as I heard it. I gripped Lady Teldra harder and said nothing. Verra and I were not on the best of terms, and I had no particular love of gods.

Verra narrowed her eyes at me, slightly.

I did not look away, locking eyes with Verra as my trousers suddenly slipped off my hips and fell to the ground around my boots.

My familiar, Loiosh, settled on one of the two marble dividers, slightly behind me and to my right, Rozca, my other familiar, on the other divider, to my left. Loiosh hissed very loudly at Verra, and then bared his fangs and snapped his jaws in her direction. I rarely saw such extreme physical expressions of anger from him when he wasn't actually fighting.

 _Loiosh?_ I projected at him, and felt... nothing.

My left hand tightened into a death grip on Lady Teldra's hilt as I spoke in my coldest voice, clipping each word. "I. can't. hear. Loiosh. Verra. Explain. Now." Loiosh didn't seem to be injured or in physical distress, so I didn't immediately attack.

One finger with an extra knuckle pointed at my trousers, pooled around my feet. With a sly smile, Verra said "Pull up your trousers, Vlad, you're distracting me."

I ignored the taunt. "They stay right where they are until I'm convinced that there isn't going to be a fight here."

Stop laughing. Yes, I got caught with my trousers around my ankles. By a goddess.

Holding Verra's eyes suddenly got much harder. The whites of both of her eyes disappeared, turning pitch black with pinpricks like stars. My mind twitched and I felt a little nauseous, but I maintained the stare while holding tightly to Lady Teldra's hilt. I felt a sense of irritation and some anger from Lady Teldra as I felt her connect to me after burrowing through whatever psychic blocking spell Verra was using.

"Lady Teldra is not pleased right now, and I'm less happy than she is with your treatment of me and my familiars, Verra. Answers, or we won't speak again." I punctuated the statement by lowering my right hand slightly, and turned the palm a little up, to position the dagger better for a rapid strike instead of the more defensive position it had been in. I doubted that plain steel would seriously hurt a god, but at that point I was nearly angry enough to try an experiment, even if Verra was the god I typically associated myself with most closely.

Lady Teldra has another name, Godkiller. Great Weapons have all sorts of prophesies and legends associated with them. Lady Teldra hadn't earned her second name yet. I wasn't eager to help her earn it, but I was beginning to get angry enough to think about it, and I know it was showing in my face.

After several seconds of staring at me with her black-starred eyes, Verra turned away from me. "I mean you no harm, Vlad. I need your help. Pull up your trousers, you look ridiculous; I'm sure you are feeling a bit... exposed. I give you my word that I will take absolutely no action towards you, or anyone you know, while you make yourself presentable."

"You've got a funny way of asking for help, Verra." I growled before I lifted the steel dagger in my right hand to my mouth and lightly, carefully, gripped it between my teeth. I then released Lady Teldra's hilt, and quickly lifted my trousers into place, making adjustments here and there to make room for various sharp pointed objects in sheathes, my shirt tails, and some other important equipment. Finally, I finished buttoning my trousers and buckled my belt.

Verra spoke immediately after I finished buckling my belt. "You're only now realizing that we gods are rarely going to give you clear answers?" Again, a little smile.

I carefully took the blade out of my mouth, wiped it on my cloak, and sheathed it as I responded sharply. "I don't see where that would be so difficult. I can see it now. A letter mysteriously pops onto my desk. I open it, and see written there: 'Vlad, if it would be convenient to you, I would like to meet in the men's restroom at Valabar's while you are taking your wife out to eat for the first time in five years and three months.'" I stared hard at her. "See, that wouldn't have been so hard after all, would it?"

Verra smiled. It looked like actual humor. "Reasons, Vlad. You can't understand."

"Try me. I'm smart. I'm also getting more annoyed. Not only can I not speak psionically with Loiosh. I just tried to send to Cawti, and failed. I also can't get the time from the Imperial Orb, which you really shouldn't be able to block. I've been in here long enough that Cawti is going to start being concerned." I met Verra's eyes and glared. "I'm starting to feel trapped. Talk. Now. What do you want?"

Suddenly, I felt hands on my lower forearms, gripping like vices, and the image of Verra by the door melted away as a much more real, physical Verra appeared in front of me. She restrained me despite my struggles, as if I had the strength of a child.

Loiosh and Rozca both started throwing themselves off their perches at Verra, but they were moving incredibly slowly, even as Verra and I seemed to be moving at normal speeds.

I struggled, in vain, yelling loudly to try to draw attention, but there was no audible reaction. "Verra," I hissed furiously, "Let me go. I'm-"

"I'm very sorry, Vlad. I know how important your return was to you, Cawti, and your son. I promise that I will give both Cawti and your son memories that will explain your absence and not distress them greatly. I am a mother, as strange as that might seem to you. I understand the bonds of family." Verra looked a little sorry as she locked eyes with me from her much-greater height. I couldn't move as she leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on my forehead.

"Just be yourself, Vlad, and don't get killed. I'll bring you back when you're done."

Verra shrugged forward with inhuman strength, throwing me backwards towards the wall. The instant her hands were off of me, my left hand snapped towards Lady Teldra and my right hand towards a long dagger.

I never hit the wall. My guts started twisting, hurting even worse than normal teleportation sickness as I passed the point where I should have slammed into the wall above the little trench in the floor. As I continued flying backwards, I saw the edges of a portal that looked a lot like one of Morrolan's travel windows.

My hands never made it to my weapons, instead, I wrapped them around my stomach as I felt the pain in my guts growing even worse, like I was being ripped apart from the inside.

What was that? Oh, yes, Loiosh and Rozca. I learned from Loiosh that the two of them had a brief staring match with Verra before she asked them if they were going to attack her, or go help me. Loiosh doesn't have a Great Weapon. Attacking a goddess by himself or even with Rozca wasn't a smart option. The two of them came through the portal after me. If Verra had harmed them... Why are you looking at me like that? Sit back down. I'm not going to hurt you with this dagger. Sorry. Dark thoughts. Where were we?

Anyway, I spent I have no idea how long in unbelievable pain, but eventually there was an immense reduction in the agony, followed by a very brief sensation of falling. Before I could even try to prepare for impact, my back smashed onto a flat surface, which, in turn, collapsed under me. Then whatever I'd fallen on smashed into something else that _didn't_ collapse. I bounced back into the air, and fell to the ground again. The pain in my back, neck, and spine after the impact felt _good_ compared to the rapidly fading torture in my guts. I distinctly remember being happy to experience something different.

After I collapsed what I guessed was some sort of flimsy table onto the floor and bounced, there was a brief moment of silence. Then there was a great deal of yelling, some voices sounding scared and other voices sounding angry. All of the voices seemed to be saying something about a cape.

Even though they were feeling better already, my guts still felt like they had been ripped out, tied in knots, and then stuffed back into me with a few handfuls of nails. I had absolutely no idea who or what Verra had landed me in the middle of, so I took a shallow breath and fell back on my wits and charm. "I fall out of the air, break your furniture, and you complain about what I'm wearing?"

I groaned out loud and mentally inventoried my body. Everything hurt, which meant everything was at least present. "Fashion tip. Capes are rarely long enough to touch the thighs, cloaks are almost always at least long enough to touch the back of the knee." Still rapidly recovering from the teleportation sickness, I painfully raised my head and chest with one arm behind me and looked around. "I am wearing a cloak, not a cape."

I was in a very large room that was lit only in the center by several light sources, all of which were too bright to look at directly. The floor looked like stone, but was oddly uniform, smooth, and shiny. The walls were too far away to see clearly in the shadows, but looked like nothing I'd ever seen before. The air smelled of sweat, salt water, tobacco, dreamgrass, and something that smelled a lot like burning lamp oil. There was also an odd meat and cheese smell coming from what looked like very thin pie pieces with a red sauce under cheese and red, coin-shaped objects cooked into the cheese. I had apparently landed on a table covered with containers full of the odd pie pieces. Wherever I was, they had strange food.

I was almost overwhelmed with all the strangeness of everything around me, but I fully understood the men approaching me with knives, and the ones behind them rapidly gathering weapons. Unfortunately, my fashion knowledge had failed to impress them.


	2. Chapter 1

_Where has Verra teleported me to, and why was it so damn painful?_

I had immediately recognized from how they moved and how they were holding their weapons that all four of the men approaching me rapidly were the next best thing to completely ignorant about using the blades in their hands. Unfortunately for them, I wasn't feeling generous enough to offer lessons. They were on their feet, I was lying in a pile of strange boxes of food. I let myself collapse onto my back again to use both hands. A quick twist of both wrists dropped a weighted dart into each hand. I crossed my arms slightly over my chest before whipping both arms out and releasing the darts.

My two targets fell to the ground, clutching their necks around protruding darts. It didn't seem as if I'd done spinal damage to either, so they could be revivified later. I didn't want to permanently kill anyone. If someone teleported onto a table of food at a Jhereg organization meeting, the reaction would be the same. Toughs crowding in with weapons, others backing off and trying to figure out what was going on. Except for the whole part where Jhereg organizational meetings had teleport blocks. My assessment of the professionalism of these people fell another notch.

"No guns. You will shoot each other." I heard, spoken loudly, firmly, by someone I couldn't see from the floor.

 _And that's the voice of someone in charge. What's a gun?_

The two remaining toughs had briefly, unprofessionally, stopped to stare at the two men holding their necks. After gawking at the dying men, they turned their heads back to me and started taking quick steps forward with grim, determined looks on their faces. I jerked my arms in another sweeping motion, carefully telegraphing the movement so they would see it. As expected, the two stopped and raised their hands to protect their face and neck. That gave me time to bring my knees to my chest, my hands up over my shoulders and kick up with all the strength in my legs and hips before pushing myself into the air with my hands.

A moment later, after some midair contortions that were a lot less painful when my guts weren't tying themselves in knots, I was on my feet, crouched, with my hands above my boots. Looking around, I saw two dying men and two men with knives, very close, looking a little nervous. There were at least ten more wielding various clubs nearby and getting nearer. Some of the clubs appeared improvised. Others were clearly purpose-built. Nobody seemed to be preparing to throw weapons, and I saw no bows or crossbows.

"You know, we don't have to do this the hard way. I'm Jhereg. This isn't a job for me."

"Never heard of you, Jhereg." The same voice. I still couldn't see the speaker, since I was crouched. "You've probably killed two of my men already. I can't let that stand. It would send a bad message to the rest of my people."

That reasoning, I understood. The man in charge had taken this personally. Years ago, when I had been running an area for House Jhereg, I tended to get personal when my people were killed.

"This was an accident. I don't want this to escalate. I'll pay for their healing, and a little extra aside to compensate for their downtime. Back off."

After a pause there was a little bit of a laugh. "I imagine that you don't want this to escalate. Too bad." He paused momentarily and then barked. "Take him."

 _Where are you Loiosh_ , I yelled psionically, reaching mentally for my familiar and finding nothing.

I drew a long dagger from my left boot with my right hand, and gripped the bottom edge my cloak around my left arm. As I started to stand, I flared the cloak at the man to my right, feinting a strike in his direction. The man to my left leaned in to try to stab me, but under the flaring cloak I was turning clockwise. Lefty had been watching the cloak move, and not me. I slammed his right forearm out of line with my right elbow, hard enough to make him drop his blade, and spun around him, pushing him towards the other knifeman with my left arm. As he fell forward, I stabbed him in the right kidney. The two men collided, and the fourth man dropped his knife as the third man knocked him over. The blade cartwheeled towards me with an odd ringing sound. I hadn't heard a blade sound like that on stone before.

Leaning over rapidly, I picked up the fourth man's knife with my left hand as it skittered across the strange smooth stone floor and threw it hard, hoping to hit the fourth man's great artery in his inner right thigh. The blade was a dirk, but it didn't have proper balance for close fighting, or throwing, and felt too light. The thrown blade was off target by several inches and only cut the fourth man lightly instead of burying itself in his thigh as intended. The third man wasn't bleeding enough for me to have hit an artery with the kidney strike, and might get back up, if he was strong and focused. The fourth man certainly would be getting back up.

Now that I was standing, I could see a large man, dressed entirely in strange black clothing. He was leaning against what looked like a huge, strange wagon, arms crossed, watching me. I saw a wisp of smoke come from his mouth as he looked at the ten men standing around me, afraid to attack. "I haven't seen him do anything that makes him a cape yet, but he's very good. Surround him. Attack him from behind. Guard yourselves when he's facing you." His voice dropped in tone and rumbled. "Prove yourselves."

It was reasonable advice to be given to unskilled amateurs fighting a professional, but it didn't explain anything.

The man in charge was Easterner, and wearing all black. No grey. The only three Houses with black in their colors were Dragon, Dzur, and Jhereg. House Dragon wouldn't take an Easterner. House Dzur would, conceivably, if an Easterner could defeat seventeen champions of the House of Dzur. Even if an Easterner could manage it, anyone that could make it into House Dzur from the outside certainly wouldn't be hiding behind these incompetents. They would be in my face, attacking me themselves. If he were in House Jhereg, he knew nothing, which meant he _wasn't_ in House Jhereg.

With my left hand, I pulled two shuriken from a pouch at my belt and threw the poisoned blades at the men on the floor. I didn't want them getting back up.

I drew another dagger with my left hand and dashed away from the man in black as the ten men surrounding me started closing in slowly, carefully. They were doing their best to follow their boss's commands.

Trying to figure out what was going on was taking up most of my attention, I couldn't afford to be surrounded, not even by these imbeciles.

The two incompetents trying to keep me from escaping the circle were even more pathetic than the knifemen. I deflected one poorly-considered strike obliquely with my right forearm and took the left on my shoulder while leaning away from it. Neither attack would leave more than a minor bruise. I put my right hand dirk in the right-side man's diaphragm, and the left hand dagger disemboweled the left-side man. One man fell, dying, unable to breathe. The other went to his knees and started trying to hold everything inside. Eight left and their boss. Three down hard. Three poisoned or wounded badly enough they couldn't fight.

"I really don't want to take out all your people. They aren't good enough to have a chance against me. Six down, and they haven't even drawn blood on me yet. Think about-"

There was a popping noise and Loiosh started screaming in my head, making me wince.

 _Boss, where are you?_

 _I'm a bit busy, Loiosh._

I felt Loiosh poking around in my mind, and started backing away towards the wall. The eight remaining men followed me, slowly. I saw their leader's head instantly snap to where I could feel Loiosh. I hadn't seen Loiosh emerge, but the leader of these people had. That was something to remember, carefully. He might actually be competent in a fight.

 _The better-dressed man in black seems to have seen you, Loiosh. I'm fine. Six down, nine to go, what took you so long?_

There was a sensation of shock from Loiosh. _You did all this in two seconds, Boss? I'm impressed. Really, I mean it. I'm impressed. And the man in black-_

 _It's been at least thirty seconds, Loiosh. Is Rozca here too?_

 _Rozca is here. Boss, it's only been two sec-_

I felt Loiosh sifting through more of my memories swiftly.

 _Boss, this is weird to the point of hurting my head. They're all Easterners? Where are we? And why can't I sense the Orb through you? Did you find another Phoenix stone?_

 _No Orb?_ I tried to reach out to the Imperial Orb. Nothing.

 _That's what I said, Boss._

 _I was talking to myself, not you, Loiosh._

 _That's fine then, I suppose._ There was a sense of hissing laughter in my head.

I pulled two more poisoned shuriken from their pouch and sent them on their way. Two men grunted in pain and fell to the ground, screaming as jhereg poison started hitting their nerves. I was immune to the poison due to Loiosh biting me constantly when he was little, when his poison sacs were very small.

I turned my head towards the man in black as I slowly kept moving backwards. The building was very large. I was starting to move into shadow. "I've taken out eight of your men now. It was easy. I can take out the rest just as easy. Have them back off."

 _Should Rozca and I just watch, or help?_

 _Just watch. Try to figure out what's going on. I'm fairly sure I can handle this myself._

 _For once, Boss, I think you're right. What House is the man in black in, anyway?_

 _I don't think he's in a House, Loiosh. Verra sent us somewhere with no orb. You looked in my memories. He thinks my name is Jhereg. None of them seem to have any clue what House Jhereg is._

 _Oh. Yeah. This is weird, Boss._

 _Loiosh, I agree. Even time is different here, like the Paths of the Dead. You took two seconds to get here while I was fighting thirty seconds, at least._

I felt the recoil of Loiosh's mind at that thought. _That's not very comforting. And Boss?_

 _What, Loiosh._

 _I'm no longer impressed. Thirty seconds for the first six, and then fifteen seconds for the next two? These Easterners are worse than Teckla. You need to pick up the pace._

The man in the black suit walked towards me slowly across the wide floor, speaking in a deep, commanding tone. "I have this now. Back off."

The incompetent thugs backed off, and starting to tend to the dead and dying.

"So, you are a cape, Jhereg." His glance drifted up to where I could feel Loiosh and Rozca. He was looking into what seemed like darkness to my eyes.

 _You're right, Boss, he can see us._

 _I told you that. Warn Rozca if you-_

 _Already done, Boss. What's a cape?_

 _It's a piece of cloth, attached at the shoulders-_

Loiosh hissed into my mind. And I smiled before replying mentally. _I don't know. Maybe that's what they call the city watch here? Why would your appearance make them think I was with the city watch though?_

 _A whole city watch of witches, Boss? That could be very, very bad._

 _Thanks for the pleasant thought. Hundreds of people who can trace my weapons._

 _Welcome, Boss._

"Tiny little dragons, and good in a fight." The man chuckled deep in his throat as he started closing the distance across the floor. "It's a shame you came here uninvited, attacked us, and killed my people. I might have tried recruiting you. Oni Lee was the last member of the ABB with sufficient weapons skills to teach others. He's been gone a while now though, and the people he taught either disappeared or were killed between the time I was captured and when Scion went insane."

As the man walked slowly under the lights in the middle of the vast open space, I got a clear view of him. He was very powerfully muscled, but not much taller than me. His skin was an odd shade of yellowish olive, and his eyes had a slight, odd tilt under a head of black, straight hair, tied back in a single knot at the top of his head. Many of the other thugs shared the same facial features and type of hair, but his was the only hair in that style. He was not carrying any weapons that I could see. Definitely no long blades. Almost certainly no short blades. Darts and shuriken or similar thrown weapons were possible, but he was very large to fight with weapons requiring more dexterity than strength.

My eyes snapped to his feet when I could see them clearly. He was wearing footwear that looked well-made, but didn't even cover the ankles. Like hard leather slippers. The black clothing was very fine. The trousers moved like silk, but I couldn't see the faintest trace of light through them. The top was something that was in the style of a heavy woolen Orca seaman's sweater, with a high, tight collar and long sleeves, but it was thin, nearly sheer. Muscles bulged under the shirt as the man moved, and the material adjusted with no sign of stress.

 _Their clothing is stranger than their food._

 _Boss, this guy has no weapons I can see. Those clothes don't hide much. He just watched you effortlessly carve up eight of his employees, and he's just walking up to you with zero sign of worry._

 _He's got orbs that hang to his knees, that's for sure, Loiosh._

 _Either that, or he's completely insane. He reminds me of you._

I ignored the barb.

 _Are there any other people in the building, besides the fighters and this fellow?_

 _No, Boss. Rozca and I are watching. I'm not going to tell you what Rozca is seeing outside, through the windows. Not till this is over._

"You seemed very talkative earlier, but you are silent now?" The man in black said, his face twisting into a slight smile. "Have you recognized me, perhaps?"

"I'm just trying to figure out why you're so confident. I can see you have no long or medium length weapons, and you've just watched me humiliate eight of your men. If you aren't good enough to teach your people to fight better than what I saw here, I can't imagine why you seem so carefree."

The man scowled and stopped, ten paces away from me, looking at me like I was an idiot. "You don't know who I am?"

Loiosh inserted himself into my mind incredulously. _Did he really just pull the 'Don't you know who I am?' line?_

 _Not now, Loiosh. But yes, he did._

"No clue. I'm Vlad. Good to meet you." I looked at him, tilting my head slightly to the side, expectantly.

"My name is Lung." He was watching my face, carefully.

 _He's named after an internal organ?_ Loiosh paused a second and then continued. _I am Lung, son of Kidney and Prostrate. Brother of Stomach, Tongue, and Appendix._

 _Stop, Loiosh, you know better than to try to make me laugh when I'm talking business._

 _This has got to be an exception, Boss. Seriously._

"I'm glad to meet you, Lung." I paused and nodded to him. "Like I said, I'm willing to pay for revivification and healing for your people. I didn't come here to do harm to your organization. I don't even know where I am, to be honest. I was teleported here with no warning."

The man started walking forward again. "It would probably be best if you didn't come within three paces of me, Lung. I don't want to hurt you if you make a sudden move."

The man was clearly enjoying himself now, and, if anything, was more relaxed than before. He stopped three paces from me, and smiled. "You amuse me, Vlad. Do you know what Leviathan was?"

Lung was starting to push every single one of my danger buttons, but I saw nothing at all to be afraid of. A man that big with no weapon, would just bleed more before he died, even if I didn't draw Lady Teldra.

 _Can you detect any sorcery or witchcraft at all on this guy, Loiosh?_

 _None. I've been looking really hard too, Boss._

"No clue, Lung. I'm a very long way from home, apparently. Far enough I can't detect the Imperial Orb. Do you know where Dragaera is?"

Lung's eyes squinted in thought. "I'm afraid I've never heard of the place." He paused. "You said something about revivification for my people? I don't know that English word, but it sounds like bringing people back to life. You can do that?"

I couldn't help but stare at him as I realized-

 _No Imperial Orb, Boss. No revivification._

 _Got it._

"No, I'm afraid I can't. It's beyond my ability with sorcery."

His eyes opened wide, briefly, and then narrowed. "Sorcery? Do you think I'm a fool? If you had some sort of cape power to bring my men back to life, I might have let you live if you brought them back." Lung took a step forward towards me.

 _Boss, the other people in here are looking really scared right now._

 _I just took out eight of them in less than a minute, Loiosh._

 _They're looking at Organ-guy, not you, Boss._

"I warned you, Lung." On his second step forward, I cut his throat and took two quick steps back to avoid getting blood on my boots when he fell.

What? I'm not that vain. Blood can be traced, and it seemed possible that the entire city watch was witches. Incompetent fighters can live a while before they get in a fight. Incompetent witches burn their brains out and become drooling wrecks the first time they try anything difficult. I knew I could easily trace Lung's blood on my boots with witchcraft. If I could, other witches could as well. Stop distracting me and let me tell the story.

Instead of falling and bleeding like a proper person with no more blood flowing to their brain, Lung took another step forward, which was _rather_ startling. What was more startling was that his neck wasn't cut any longer.

 _Boss, his eyes are on fire!_

 _Loiosh, I told you when we fought Loraan-_

 _He's NOT undead, boss._

I dropped the dagger out of my left hand and reached towards Lady Teldra as Lung took another long, rapid step forward, absolutely no fear at all in his face.

 _Boss, move, now, get away!_

As my left hand wrapped around Lady Teldra's hilt, Lung struck with his open palm, so fast I could barely even see his arm move. I took the blow directly on the flat of my sternum, barely above where my left arm was crossing my body to grip Lady Teldra. I heard my ribs collapse with a sound like crumpling paper as I shot through the air like a catapult stone. I have _never_ been hit _anywhere_ near that hard. I had never _seen_ anyone get hit that hard, by anything - not even sorcery. I flew at least ten paces backwards into a pile of trash. My feet never hit the ground before I slammed up against the odd metallic wall with a loud clang and a spray of garbage.

Loiosh screamed in my mind, and I felt him moving in to attack.

My heart was not beating, and I couldn't breathe. My hand was starting to slip off of Lady Teldra, but I gripped harder, in desperation, trying to pull her from her sheath so she would be unfettered. I had no leverage. My shoulder bones and ribs were confetti. My hands worked, and my arms, but there was no leverage from my shoulders. The sheath Lady Teldra was in had to be very tight; it was meant to hold her in place, hilt down. I didn't have the leverage to free her and save my life.

My left wrist and forearm worked feverishly. All of my attention centered on wriggling and coaxing to try to get Lady Teldra out of her sheath. It wasn't working.

Loiosh screamed something into my mind that I can't remember. A second or two later, Rozca's body slammed into my shoulder, unbalancing me. My upper body slid to the side, collapsing out of the dent in the metal wall that had been holding me in a semi-seated position. I held to Lady Teldra as tightly as I could, and when my body bounced to the floor, Lady Teldra stayed in her sheath.

 _Just be yourself, Vlad. Just stay alive, Vlad._ I screamed into my own head. _Verra, if you're listening, you had best take good care of Cawti and my son, or I'm going to find a way to help Lady Teldra earn her second name._

My left hand relaxed despite my best efforts to keep struggling to pull Lady Teldra from her sheath. No heartbeat meant no body strength after only a few seconds. Suddenly, there was a strong sensation of concern and worry. I felt a shiver pass through my body, and Lady Teldra slid out of her sheath, falling several inches, her pommel striking my limp left hand.

A nightmare of hunger and rage assaulted the minds of everyone nearby that wasn't me, or my familiars, as Lady Teldra's blade was freed of her sheath.

If you have never felt the hunger aura of a morganti blade, be thankful. A minor morganti weapon is enough to make the weak-willed tremble just from its presence. A strong morganti blade with a powerful aura will cause the weak-willed to flee and the brave to tremble. A Great Weapon like Lady Teldra has a morganti aura strong enough to make a brave person run away when drawn in normal circumstances.

But a Great Weapon drawn when its soul-bound wielder is in mortal danger? The projected aura is powerful enough to drive most to flee mindlessly, even to the point of trampling loved ones underfoot. Only the very bravest can even stand in front of a Great Weapon when it is in such a state. A single Great Weapon can turn the tide of a battle. Lung? He slowly walked up to the trash pile and looked at me as I lay crumpled there, ignoring Loiosh and Rozca as they raged at him. He was clearly being impacted by the aura, moving with trepidation, looking around furtively, glancing at shadows, but he wasn't fleeing.

I watched his eyes scan me, before he turned and walked away. Loiosh later showed me, psionically, what Lung would have seen from that angle. I would have walked away from the dying me too, if I didn't know what a Great Weapon could do. At the time, my body looked lumpy and twisted, like a sugar candy man left too close to the stove, but not quite close enough to burst into flame.

After Lung left, I was too damaged to feel pain at first. Then I felt my heart begin to beat again and the bones in my chest and back began shifting under my skin. Lady Teldra was maintaining my consciousness and trying to restore me. Somewhere, far away, I heard a strange wailing noise. It was almost like a banshee scream, sounding like it was coming from many directions at once, and it was getting closer. I was fairly sure it wasn't me screaming in pain.

All of a sudden the pain started, without warning. I stiffened and coughed, which, due to the state of my bones and lungs, led to a spray of blood on the ground in front of my face and more pain than I could deal with. Almost as much pain as Verra's teleport had given me. The pain suddenly disappeared again.

Loiosh landed next to my head so I could see him without moving. My right cheek was resting on the copper-smelling, cool, flat stone, shifting back and forth gently as my torso rebuilt itself. _Boss, he's gone._

 _Who?_ I managed to reply as my vision started to tunnel.

 _What? Loiosh rummaged around in my head. Oh, no. None of that, Boss. There's nobody to carry you, and we can't stay. I can tell that Lady Teldra's almost healed you enough to move. Organ-guy left six of his incompetent dead people behind, and you killed them. Falling asleep is not an option. That noise that's getting closer? I bet it's the city watch. Lady Teldra was furious. She probably sent everyone within a couple hundred yards screaming off in all directions. Well, except for except Organ-guy._

 _Just five minutes, Loiosh._

 _Boss, I'm going to bite your nose if you don't stay awake._

A small set of jaws with very sharp teeth poised themselves in front of my crossed eyes, lightly gripping the end of my nose.


	3. Chapter 2

_I can't believe you bit me on the nose, Loiosh._

Carefully, I rubbed my nose with the back of my palm. Lady Teldra had healed it for the most part, but it would still bleed if I rubbed it too much. Jhereg poison made me itch like mad, despite my acquired immunity to it.

 _I told you I would, Boss. The city watch was getting closer to you, despite Lady Teldra._

 _You bit my nose. Why not my finger or arm?_

 _It worked. Now I know you really don't like it._

I turned my head and stared at my familiar. His long neck coiled around and met my eyes.

 _I wasn't going to let you sleep. You could have woken up in cell - if someone wanted to ask you questions. If they preferred nice, neat resolutions, you're a lot easier to keep alive when you're awake._

I snorted mentally in his direction. He was right, but I wouldn't admit it. That's part of what makes us good partners.

I looked at the gigantic steel box, sitting on odd, black stone, against a wall of brick and mortar. _This is one of the biggest pieces of steel I've ever seen, and its a garbage container._

 _Loiosh's head raised up slightly. Rozca says she can see six more of them from up top, Boss. Wherever we are, they have lots of steel._

A man's garbage will tell you a lot about them, unless, of course, they are very careful about how they dispose of things. I was hoping that a city's garbage could tell me about the city. What it was telling me was that this city was weird.

 _They certainly have plenty of food, too._

 _No pigs either, boss._

 _What?_

 _If they had pigs, they would feed all this food to the pigs._

 _..._

 _What, it could be important. Savn saved you because he learned how to inflate a pig's lung._

I rubbed the back of my nose again, carefully, not thinking anything at Loiosh.

After a couple seconds of mental silence, I carefully hauled out another strange object, avoiding the rotting food that seemed to be everywhere. The strangely-slick, off white thing was about the size of my palm. One side of it was made of an odd, opaque eggshell-white material, the other side seemed to be made of glass, which was broken. I scratched it with the tip of one of my knives, on both sides. The glass scratched too easily to be glass. The opaque material also scratched easily. I saw tiny bits of metal inside, under the broken not-glass.

 _Any ideas, Loiosh?_

 _I'm not the one with thumbs, Boss._

I threw the _thing_ back in the trash.

 _You aren't being much help, Loiosh._

 _I already told you my idea._

 _Jump out, threaten someone with a knife, and tell them to 'tell me everything!' ?_

 _... Well, it could work._

I reached up with my left hand and scratched his head with a fingernail.

 _Stressed out a bit, Loiosh. Sorry._

 _I'm not at my best either, Boss._

A piece of paper with a great deal of writing on it fluttered in the trash container, and I grabbed it without thinking. Some sort of red sauce was on it. I carefully picked up the paper, and there were a lot of other papers connected to it, like a thin book.

I stared at the connected pages, and flipped through them.  
 _  
A book? A book in the trash? Who throws books away, Loiosh?_

 _Stupidly rich wizards?_

I looked around, and smelled the air.

 _This doesn't smell like the sort of place wizards would want to live._

 _No Orb, Boss. Maybe rich wizards can't live in floating castles here._

We both laughed in each other's heads at the reference to Castle Black. Morrolan had once explained the very simple sewer system. Sewage fell out of the castle onto fallow fields. Every year, the castle moved over a new field.

 _Morrolan would have agreed with you about pulling a knife on a stranger for information._

 _Organ-guy did call me a dragon._

 _... He did, didn't he? Don't let it go to your head. It might find its way into my head._

Loiosh snickered in the back of my mind.

I found some mostly-dry paper and wiped the book off, and then started quickly paging through it.

The letters were not right, but I understood them. Lady Teldra again, certainly. I put my left hand on her hilt.

 _Thank you, Lady Teldra. Again._

I felt a tiny bit of amusement before I turned my attention to the study of the book: 'Vogue'

It turned out to be some sort of a reference guide to being female. Not very handy. The editorial pages mentioned prior months. The front page indicated a date of publication, the first of June, 2011.

Even though I could read the words, about half of the words with more than three letters were gibberish. A lot of them, I was pretty sure, were related to sex and fashion. That wasn't going to do me much good. The advertisements in the back had been handier. People bought and sold gold and silver in this world as coins and bullion. I had some gold and silver coins. Something called Wall Street apparently set money policy, but it was chaotic, and had crashed many times. People were trying to sell classes about how to make a living betting on the 'market' that was somehow controlled by Wall Street. Or something.

A dollar seemed to be the unit currency, but it didn't buy a lot. An ounce of gold was worth over a thousand dollars. I wasn't entirely certain how much an ounce was, but it was small. I was fairly confident that I had at least enough money to feed the three of us for a while.

 _Ads. Prior months. Date of publication. This is a broadsheet, Loiosh._

 _Well, paper is clearly cheap here. The art is pretty weird too. It's all dots. The art that is._

 _Art made of dots?_

 _I don't think you can see it unless you get really close to it, Boss, in better light. Trust me. They didn't use a brush. They made the art out of lots of little dots of ink soaked into the paper._

I looked through the trash, hoping to find another broadsheet.

A shrill female voice echoed down the alley, from closer to the road. "Let me go!"

A low, angry male voice rasped down the alley. "Ya don't shut up, slut, I'll shut ya up. Just a bit of fun, we be on our way."

 _Loiosh?_

 _Rozca found a cat, Boss._

 _Did it have a collar?_

 _No collar, Boss._

 _Good._

I turned on my heel and walked towards the voices.

 _Well, Loiosh, I've reconsidered your plan._

I felt Loiosh backpedal mentally. _Wait. What plan?_

 _The plan with the knife._

 _Now?_

 _Yes now._

 _The cat will get cold, Boss._

 _I'll build you a fire later._

 _OK, Rozca's in, after she stashes the cat on one of the rooftops._

I stepped up to a corner and slowly put my head around the corner just far enough to expose my left eye.

Three men, all young. All thin, but wiry.

 _Just three of them, Loiosh?_

 _Only three here. There are a couple more around the corner._

"You tried to get away, now you gotta pay for our company, slut." The speaker was wearing a dirty red shirt with short sleeves, blue long pants with lots of holes, and heavy boots. He had a young woman pinned to the wall with one hand on her neck, and was groping her breasts with his other hand. "Get her purse. We'll sort it out later."

The woman was wearing a green blouse and blue trousers. She was short, young, and athletic, with few curves. Her hair was long and jet black, framing what would have been a pretty face if she hadn't been terrified.

One of the two other young men leaned forward and grabbed the girl's purse. She tried to hold onto it, but it was ripped away.

"Oh, are we resisting assault now?" All three of the men chuckled. They seemed to think that was funny somehow.

"My parents paid protection!" The girl was close to panic now. "Paid it to Hi. Please. No."

"Hi got a case of the deads earlier today, slut. We'll stop by your parent's soon enough so they can pay me."

 _Really? Street toughs running their own protection rackets, with no records, and double-charging for protection? The Council would have fits._

The three men and the girl were still visible from the street. They probably wouldn't rape her where she was. If she was near her home, her relatives might find out before it was over, and cause problems. There was a reason enforcement was generally not done in front of lots of people.

I slowly pulled my head back around the corner. They would almost certainly do the deed where I was standing. It was twenty feet farther from the road, around a little corner where the building changed shape.

 _Loiosh, tell me if they pull a weapon, or if they start to strip her there._

 _Gotcha, Boss._

I took several steps back, next to the nearest garbage container, folded my cloak around me, ducked my head down to hide my neck, and went _still_.

Hrm? Why did I emphasize the word 'still'? There's a difference between not moving and being _still_. Most people, when they think they stop moving, don't. They continue to make little movements that other people can see. I don't. Loiosh and I worked on that a lot when I was still shining people. He can see me breathing, and tell when my slitted eyes blink, but he can also tell you how many times a fly flaps it's wings from the time it leaves my arm until he nips it out of the air. Most people won't notice me when I'm _still_ , not without magic. You have a habit of interrupting me when things get interesting.

Anyway, the three toughs rounded the corner and the one who seemed to be in charge was handling the girl roughly, but not hurting her yet, just playing with her. He pushed the girl up against the wall with one hand on her neck, and started groping her again, breasts and elsewhere. She was trying to fight him, but clearly had never been in a fight. She was more interested in trying to keep his hands off her private parts than ripping out his eyes.

One of the subordinate toughs pulled a folding knife out of a pocket. A folding knife. Complete crap in a fight. "Fuji, want me to peel her out?"

The leader sighed and his free hand stopped groping the girl, but his left hand held her pinned to the wall. "Why you always want to do that, Lo? I ever let you cut their clothes off?"

"No, but..."

"Don't ask again. You scare 'em bad enough, they no fun. You can cut 'em too if they panic. Dead girls are big problems. Raped girls are little problems. You want to maybe make a big problem for me, big enough that Lung isn't happy?"

The man with the folding knife put it back in his pocket. "No. No, Fuji."

"Good. You go last, Lo." He turned back to the girl and grabbed the top of her blouse with one hand, clearly about to start ripping off her clothes.

The third man just watched impassively. I hadn't heard him say a single word. I mentally marked him to watch a little more carefully. Toughs that didn't talk much were either complete idiots or smarter than normal, and I'd seen no sign that he was an idiot.

I needed to interrupt now.

 _Loiosh, Have Rozca follow the girl if she gets away._

 _She will, Boss._

I lifted my hat with my left hand. "Where I come from, you ask for protection money _first_."

All three men spun to face me, making startled noises.

"Who da fuck?" Lo grabbed his folding knife out of his pocket, and fumbled to unfold it.

I watched the three men carefully. They weren't ready to fight yet. "No money, no protection, and bad things might happen after. Usually, just posting the address on the unprotected list in the weekly broadsheet will do the job. People don't like it when they are open to unsanctioned thieves."

"Broadwhat?" Fuji said, cleverly.

The third man spoke. "Old word for newspaper, Fuji. He's wearing a lot of leather and wool, too. Bet he's from one of the primitive dimensions."

 _Dimensions. Like where the Jenoine were?_

 _I guess so, Boss._

Fuji looked at the third man, then back to me. "You think we gonna print a fuckin' paper for the marks?"

The girl had been immobile with shock after I interrupted, but suddenly tried to run. Fuji casually kicked her legs out from under her. She went down, hard. The side of her head bounced on the ground. It didn't look like she'd fallen hard enough to do serious damage, but she was stunned.

"You better be ABB, and higher up, to talk shit to me. Show me yer tats." Fuji spat at me, angrily.

I looked from one man to the other.

 _Loiosh, you know what tats are?_

 _No clue, Boss._

"Which tats?" I gave him a thin grin and narrowed my eyes.

"Fuji, careful. He ain't scared. Might be packing heat."

"Shut up, Fessor. He ain't ABB. Take 'im out."

I watched the one called Fessor, who was clearly of the smart-but-quiet-unless-it's-important type. He moved like he had a clue. His hands moved decently fast when he got the order. I'd been watching him move his hands slowly towards his short clubs as we were talking.

They were about ten feet from me, so I had plenty of time.

Lo was to the right, Fuji center, and Fessor left. None of them were wearing armor, so I cross-drew two long knives, and stepped out towards the three of them as Fuji pulled out a sheath knife and Fessor drew what looked to be two sticks held together with a small chain, instead of two short clubs.

 _Loiosh, I might need your help in a bit for the one with the thresher. I'd like him alive though._

Lo was at least holding his knife in a decent ready position, forearm extended, at waist height, a good stance for small blade work, but he had they crappy blade and was telegraphing everything with his eyes.

After I took a step forward, I stepped right, circling around Lo, which would force the other two to move faster to get around him, or force Lo to back away from me, if he had a clue. "This is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. You get one chance to leave."

"Ka-Bar says 'No' you stupid fuck. I don't bluff." Fuji waggled his knife in my general direction as he started crowding around Lo's right side, pushing Lo a little, which Lo was at least smart enough to be clearly upset about.

"Fuck, Fuji, don't be pushin' me in no fight, man."

 _These two are complete morons like the others, Loiosh, but watch the guy with the thresher._

 _On it, Boss._

Fuji's knife looked like a serious fighting blade. Leather hilt, single-edged, decent blade length, a blade that swept up to a point. It even had a small guard to the top and bottom. It wouldn't be as good against armor as a dirk, but I wasn't wearing armor.

I didn't want to kill them permanently, which meant I couldn't kill them at all.

 _Non-lethal, Loiosh. No poison, just bites and claws. No arteries._

 _That's going to be a serious pain, Boss._

The girl managed to stagger to her feet and stumble around the corner. Fuji noticed. "That's some primo 'tang running away, shithead. You die now."

"You said it, Fuji." Lo chimed in, like a little brother.

 _Then again, they might have kids. I'd be doing the future a favor._

 _If they've been doing this a while, they probably already have kids._

 _Thank you, Loiosh. I appreciate it when you make things easier._

 _No problem, Boss._

I gave Lo four good openings before he finally spotted the pattern I was faking. When his eyes started following my right elbow, I started the pattern again, and he lunged, trying to cut my right wrist. I stepped right, and drew back the right arm, instead of pushing it forward like he was expecting. As his little folding knife flashed past where he thought my wrist was going to be, my left blade struck him in his right eye. I felt the blade grind into the eye socket, and jerked the hilt of my blade, and his head, hard to my left so the corpse fell into Fuji. The blade was certainly jammed in the eye socket, so I let it fall with the corpse.

Lo bounced into Fuji, and fell like a puppet with strings cut. Fuji was pushed back a step, and looked down at Lo, briefly. "You stupid fuck."

When Fuji looked back up, he might have seen my right blade before it buried itself in his left eye. Then again, he was pretty slow. He might have died before he saw the blade. Brain shots through the eye are like that.

Fessor hadn't moved up close. Threshers needed more space than a knife, and the two idiots had been crowding me. His eyes were huge as Fuji fell. "Fuck me sideways. I'm not fighting no cape. You're the one that killed Hi, that Lung thought he killed" Fessor said as he took two steps back and started to turn and run.

Loiosh swooped past him and slapped him in the face with one wing as he took his second step after the turn.

Startled by the unexpected slap in the face, Fessor screamed "Shit!" and fell, his thresher falling out of his hand as he tumbled.

When he got to his knees, Loiosh had landed on the odd black stone, well out of arm's reach, his long neck coiled back to strike, teeth bared.

"Just so you know, he's very intelligent, and extremely poisonous. You've seen how fast I am. He's faster."

Fessor just stared at Loiosh, and didn't appear to be listening to me.

 _Gee, thanks, Boss, I didn't know that, and he's already on his knees._

"He's also asking me if he can kill you now."

 _I am? Oh, yeah._

Loiosh widened his jaws slightly, hissed, and I saw a droplet of green drip off one of his fangs.

 _Is that good, Boss?_

 _Perfect._

Fessor was apparently paying attention to me now. His head stayed fixated on Loiosh. "Raising my hands. Don't kill me, please."

"You seem like a smart boy." I pulled my blades out of Lo and Fuji's eyes, watching Fessor grimace as the knives scraped out of the eye sockets, with not a little effort on my part. I had to put my foot on Fuji's forehead to get that blade out without bending it.

"You related to these two, Fessor?" I pointed at the bodies.

He shook his head. "No."

"You like hunting girls for sport?"

"Not... really. That was Fuji's thing, but if I didn't join in..."

I stared at him. "Finish the sentence."

He swallowed, and met my eyes. "If I didn't join in, then he started talking like I was going to turn against him in court if he ever got pulled in. Fuji was a paranoid fuck. I have brothers and sisters. My family gets left alone as long as I'm an ABB member. If I'm dead or chased out of town, my brothers are too young to be full members. My sisters are old enough, but the only job non-cape women get in the ABB is whore."

"So you did it to protect your family?"

"That's what I said."

"Then let's go see your family, Fessor."

"Fuck that, you killed two people in two seconds. I ain't letting you near my family. I'll die first."

"Really?" I smiled at him.

He tensed up, clearly about to try to scramble over to his thresher.

"Relax, Fessor. I'm not going to kill you, and I don't need to see your family."

He was silent, staring at me. After a few seconds, he asked, hopefully. "Then I can go?"

"No. I've got some questions to ask you. Then I'm going to hit you over the head with your thresher, and knock you out, so it won't look like you didn't fight. You will not remember who attacked you. That's very important to remember." I gave him my best threatening, cold look. "If you remember who attacked you, I won't be so nice the next time."

He tensed up again, and glanced towards where the thresher had fallen.

I tilted my head a bit. "Fessor, if you want to fight me for real, you won't last five seconds. Loiosh there will bite you, then I'll stab you as you're screaming in pain from the poison. If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already. Stand up, follow me. We won't go far, but I want to be away from the bodies."

The young man stood, slowly, never taking his eyes off Loiosh who was enjoying himself far too much.

"Don't forget your thresher."

"My what?"

"Your weapon."

"It's a Nunchuck"

"It's a thresher. Farmers use it to thresh grain. It also makes a decent weapon if you know how to use it. Farmers are smarter than a lot of people give them credit for."

He was silent for a few seconds after he slowly picked up the thresher, then he followed me deeper into the alley.

Loiosh flew up onto my shoulder and then turned around to watch Fessor, so I could leave my back open to him.

"What questions? I don't know shit about what top people do or where valuable stuff is stored."

I smiled. "What's a cape?"

**

I looked down at the unconscious young man.

 _How in the hell is the government of this place stupid enough to make almost everything people like illegal?_

 _Maybe everyone here is stupid? We've only found one person so far that wasn't an idiot._

 _Two. Lung wasn't an idiot._

 _Fine. Two._

 _And some of the others in the first fight might have been intelligent, they just couldn't fight._

 _Boss, let's just say they were idiots, unless proven otherwise. It makes me feel smarter._

I chuckled and walked back deeper into the alleyway.

 _Was Rozca able to follow the girl home?_

 _Sure, Boss. Watched outside the building too, till she saw her through a window._

 _Are there sills on the windows?_

 _I'll ask._

 _Yes, Boss. Wide sills. With dirt in them, and plants._

 _Have Rozca take this, drop it on the sill of the window that she saw the girl through._ I tossed the little white pouch into the air, caught it, and then handed it to Rozca, who gripped it with one claw.

 _Tap on the window when she sees a person, and then get away fast. Make sure she knows what guns are and that she will have to be very care-_

 _Boss, I told her about guns when Fessor told you about guns. That whole 'shoots little pieces of lead really fast' bit was important._

I scratched his head.

 _She's asking about the cat, boss._

 _I'll look for wood to burn. I've seen a few pieces around. We'll need a place to start a fire though. Fessor said that the Undersiders didn't patrol their border areas very well._

 _**_

I leaned back against the brick wall, and looked over the wreckage of several buildings. Huge buildings. Before Scion was killed, he destroyed things on a scale that was hard to imagine. The machines that these people had were nearly magic. A lot of the machines seemed better than magic.

 _Rozca's offering to share, Boss, since you cooked it._

 _No thanks, never really liked cat. Please thank her for offering though._

I scratched Rozca on her head, which she graciously allowed, before she bit another piece off the scrawny cat carcass.

Loiosh waited until Rozca had eaten several more bites before he moved in to start eating himself. Rozca could get a bit protective about food, especially if she killed it.

Getting into Undersider territory unchallenged had been absurdly easy. It was worse than Fessor had told me.

 _How did these people ever manage to gain control over the whole city, Loiosh?_

 _Fessor said all the other cape gangs died, or got sent to prison._

 _I guess so. Still. Lung is going to eat them for lunch. They aren't patrolling well, they don't seem to be recruiting._

I stirred the fire. It was closing in on darkness, and I didn't have a lot of firewood left, but the weather wasn't cold here at this time of year, and I now had a bedroll.

 _They're also not charging a lot for their rackets, Boss, maybe they're broke?_

 _I don't think so. The Undersider enforcers we did see all seemed well-fed. They are regulating prostitution, gambling, alcohol, and a few other drugs, so they are making money. People aren't complaining about costs going up for their vices._

 _Boss, what are you thinking?_

 _There's no Jhereg House here, no Council. Lung runs his ABB how he wants, and Tattletale and the Undersiders run their operation how they want._

 _Seriously, Boss? You're not really thinking about-_

 _Loiosh, what did Verra tell me?_

I felt Loiosh rummaging around in my mind.

 _"Just be yourself, Vlad, and don't get killed. I'll bring you back when you're done." Boss, that's more stupid god tricks, playing with your mind. If the gods want you to do something, you won't get away from it._

 _"Just be myself." You know I can't deal with how House Jhereg runs their territories, especially where Easterners are involved. I can experiment here, try different things._

 _You could also say that you're being yourself when you do stupid things that almost get you killed. We can probably find something that's not quite this stupid and dangerous._

 _Like what, Loiosh? Half an hour talking with Fessor before we heard someone find the dead bodies didn't get us much information. It helped a lot, but I don't know enough to fit in here yet, and we've already killed quite a few people. Fessor says the 'cops' can do forensics to match a blade to a murder, or even a person to a murder, using the prints on our fingers and even our sweat and blood, so I can't go legit._

I made a mental note to try to find somewhere that sold witchcraft supplies. I'd sold one of my silver coins to an Undersider pawn shop for a substantial amount of the dollar currency, and then bought some of the blue pants everyone seemed to wear, as well as a few other things. There was still some money left over. If witchcraft supplies weren't terribly expensive, I might be able to do things about my blood and the prints from my fingers that I'd left behind.

 _Boss, Lung almost killed you once. The Undersiders have five capes that Fessor knew of. Who are you going to try to muscle in on?_

 _I'll feed Lung to Lady Teldra if I see him again, especially after seeing how he runs his territory. I doubt Tattletale and the Undersiders would object too strongly if we were to set up shop in the no-man's land, and start raiding into ABB territory. They don't seem to care that much if they lose territory to the ABB, I can't imagine they would be annoyed if they stop losing territory._

 _You're going to do this no matter what I say, aren't you?_

 _Sorry, Loiosh, yes. I've got a chance to run a territory the way I want to run it. The Undersiders have even given me a few good ideas. Maybe I can show them a few things too._

 _All by yourself._

 _I've got friends._

 _Flattery won't make you any less insane for trying this, Boss._

 _I know, Loiosh, but doing nothing is certainly not being myself._


	4. Chapter 3

Jeff stared at me. "Hey Hannibal, you sure you don't have a cape power to hide weapons? I saw that box of blades full, and empty, and I only see two of them now."

I looked down at myself. "I'm doing something wrong then. Show me the ones you can see."

He helpfully pointed out two of the larger daggers on my person, and I made a couple adjustments to their harness and the clothes. New clothes are a pain.

The different clothes made it more challenging for me to conceal weapons. The only clothing I'd kept that I came with was my boots. They were far better than anything I'd found here, and I refused to part with them. I changed everything else I wore to match what the natives did for a couple days. Blue jeans, T-shirts, and a windbreaker.

After I started the Pillars, I had to make my people look different, to identify us. That had to start with me, so I changed my look again. The official Pillars uniform was black boots, urban camouflage BDU pants, a black, four-pocket guayabera, an ankle-length black leather trench coat, and a leather fedora. I liked the look. Especially the trench coat. It wasn't cheap to keep my people dressed in a uniform, but it was worth it. We'd only been a going concern for a few weeks, and we already controlled ten blocks. People were stepping forward, coming to us with their problems instead of the police.

 _I might have to get a grey trench coat made when I get back, Loiosh._

 _That's wonderful, Boss. I'm sure that'll be quite a fashion statement. You do remember that I'm busy right now, looking for people that might want to kill you while you are stealing from them?_

 _That somehow slipped my mind, Loiosh. Carry on._

"How do you do that?" Jeff complained, good-naturedly as he looked at where he had seen the blades a few seconds before. A couple of the others chuckled.

"Practice. Lots of practice. And a good tailor. Which was very hard to find without going to Parian."

I tapped the end of my Louisville Slugger on the ground. I wasn't a club person in general, but it worked well enough, and they were uniformly made. "Enough small talk. Serious business to discuss now. After my little friends get finished scouting, if things look clear, we go in, according to plan. Jeff, you will take your team to the south side guards. Kirk, you take yours to the north side."

The two team leaders both nodded nervously, as did the other six men and two women behind them.

"I know this is your first time doing an op, but you've been learning well, or you wouldn't be here. Fear means you're paying attention to the things that can go wrong. Don't let it control you."

They all nodded again, a little more confidently.

I tapped the bat on the concrete again. "Remember, bats only, and no head shots. Restrain with cuffs and shackles. You're going to be five-on-two, and they are going to be very distracted."

"I still have no clue how this works, Hannibal." Kirk muttered, staring at the beanbag I'd handed him a few minutes before.

I shrugged. "You don't have to. Sorry. Throw the beanbags at their feet. The next time they hit the ground, they'll go off. Same as in practice."

"No offense, but these things really remind me of some of the things Bakuda used a few years ago. I've still got a scar in my head where she put a bomb in there."

I clapped him lightly on the shoulder. "I can understand that, Kirk. I've got a few ghosts in my head too. Can't let that get in our way though, can we?"

Kirk squared his shoulders and nodded, saying nothing.

Jeff coughed into his hand, gently, and I smiled at him. "Indeed. Back to business." After a second, I continued. "We're not here to kill. You are allowed to use deadly force if one of them pulls a gun _and_ fires a round, but not before. That means until they actually shoot at someone, no head shots with bats, and you don't pull your own pistol. If you break that rule, you're on trash duty for a week. If you break that rule and kill someone, you're out of the Pillars, and I'll have you delivered to the authorities, got it?"

They nodded.

"I don't need the complications of dead people, and we damn sure don't need somebody to trigger on us in the middle of a job."

 _Did you really just say that, Boss? Dead people aren't complications. Dead people are the opposite of complications._

 _Shut up, Loiosh._

I don't think it's necessary to belabor the fact that Loiosh didn't agree with my 'Carebear' attitude. No, I'm not going to tell you where that term comes from. It's painful to think about. The people on that world had some truly warped entertainment.

Sorry for the distraction. After Loiosh and I verbally sparred, my team nodded again, a little more energetically.

When I saw that they were all with me, I continued. "That goes for me too, by the way. If I fuck up and pull one of my pistols or blades when I don't need it, I'm on trash duty for a week." I could see that they didn't believe it. I was planning on making it happen in about a week or so on an easy job. Psychology. I was in charge, because I was better than them, but I had to follow the rules too. I had my eye on Jeff to take my spot for that week, to see how he handled leadership. I really needed a right-hand-man soon.

That wasn't the whole reason though. I'd been running myself ragged for the last several weeks and needed some down time. If that downtime was sorting trash for useful recyclables, then so be it.

 _You know I'm going to get a picture of you sorting garbage, Boss, and have it printed out. Cawti will love it._

 _What was that about me having thumbs?_

 _Feh. I know your passwords, and I don't need thumbs to type._

 _Introducing you to computers was definitely a mistake._

 _I'm not the one only sleeping two hours a night._

I changed the topic before Loiosh could get started. _Recon report, Loiosh?_

 _All clear, Boss. Nobody in a cape outfit. Nobody acting like a cape. Nobody matching a cape face I know._

 _Good, what are they doing?_

 _Two pairs of two outside that you can see from there. Four inside. One counting money, two measuring and packing drugs for distribution, one on a laptop computer. All of them fairly close together at a few tables near the entrance, next to a van. Nobody's in the van. Nobody's in the upstairs office._

I raised my finger for silence, and looked towards the warehouse, with binoculars. My people knew Loiosh and Rozca were smart, but I tried to keep them from knowing exactly how smart. They also thought I was a cape, which I didn't mind them thinking. I intentionally was very vague about how I did a lot of things.

 _Don't spray me, Loiosh, and keep it off yourself. Please. It's awful._

 _Tasty too. I won't, Boss. Trust me. I've practiced. On cats. They're much faster than people._

 _I already regret this and you haven't done it yet._

 _Rozca wants one too._

 _Absolutely not. I can't talk to her directly._

 _We're going to have to talk about this, Boss. She's cutting me off._

 _Later, Loiosh. After this is done._

I lowered my finger. "OK, we're golden. Into the vans."

We all jogged across the warehouse floor to the two white cargo vans with no windows behind the driver's compartment, each carrying the name of a non-existent company on the side. After today's job, they would be repainted.

A driver in each van, Jeff's team in one, Kirk's team with me in the other. A baker's dozen. Overkill for this mission. Three blocks down the road, ABB goons were waiting to give us their money and goods.

Jen sat down across from me. "I still can't believe you didn't have them put seatbelts in."

I closed my eyes. "It's a vehicle that we only use for cargo, or moving armed people to go fight, Jen."

"Still. No seatbelts. Makes me nervous."

I opened my eyes. She looked nervous.

 _I'm driving around in a fire-powered wagon with no horses. They blow up on TV all the time. And you're worried about seatbelts?_

Loiosh giggled nervously in my mind, but said nothing.

Mike leaned over and whispered, loud enough that everyone in the van could hear. "I'll hold your hand, if you want, Jen?"

"Ha!" Jen slapped Mike's outstretched hand away. "I know where that hand's been."

For the next three or four minutes, there was a constant jabber as Kirk's team tried their best to pretend they weren't scared to be on their way to their first raid. Jamal, our driver, was silent, but I saw him glance at us in the mirror a few times, clearly worried.

I was just hoping the van wouldn't blow up on the way there. The gas tank could hold thirty gallons of fuel. I'd done an internet search. Thirty gallons of gasoline had enough energy to make a really big bomb.

Their jabber and my worries about exploding ended, cut like a windpipe, when the driver said "We're on the block. Twenty seconds."

Kirk was staring at the beanbag in his hands.

"You got this, Kirk. No worries." Lady Teldra was good enough to translate street speak that I knew into street speak that these people were comfortable with. When I'd first started, I hadn't thought about it and spoke like I would normally speak. I'd gotten a lot of really strange looks from quite a few people.

The van started to slow. "Go. Go. Go." The driver yelled before the van had fully stopped.

Jen threw open the back doors. I threw open the side doors. The six of us jumped out of the van, Louisville Sluggers in our hands.

Kirk wound up to throw the beanbag, and started a powerful throw, hitting the side door with his hand.

The beanbag dropped to the ground between my feet, and activated.

 _Verra's teats._

Everything suddenly went completely silent as the null-sound field engaged, and the beanbag started to look like a pineapple grenade from the movies.

I saw the two ABB goons that _should_ have been staring at a grenade at their feet before panicking, staring at us as we piled out of the van. They were beginning to react as they recognized what we were wearing. One of them looked at the other side of the warehouse and grabbed the first one by the shoulder, clearly starting to shout, but I couldn't hear anything.

 _I hope that means Jeff's team didn't blunder quite as spectacularly as we did._

I leaned over to pick up the beanbag. Kirk and I bounced heads and recoiled from each other.

 _I'm not going to kill him. I'm not going to kill him._

I lunged forward, intentionally hitting Kirk's head with my shoulder as he tried to get to the grenade as well. I grabbed the grenade, and a strong underhanded toss landed it at the front door of the warehouse before the ABB goons arrived. They saw the grenade-looking beanbag, and skidded to a stop in a panic, running back towards us, shouting but making no noise.

Jen, Mike, Pablo, and Patel were doing what they were supposed to be doing. Running towards the two ABB goons.

Kirk had landed flat on his ass when I knocked him back with my shoulder. He shook his head twice, quickly, and then looked towards the warehouse before immediately jumping to his feet, grabbing his bat, and saying nothing at all to me. No attempt at apology, no hesitation as he ran to help the other four, who he really should have been leading.

 _Better. Much better._

I ran at the warehouse door as I saw my people striking arms and legs. Neither of these two had carried a pistol, or they hadn't thought to use them. We'd gotten lucky.

I pulled out another beanbag, and hoped I wouldn't need it, because I had no idea if it would work. It was supposed to unlock doors. There were a lot of ways people in this world locked doors. If I'd guessed wrong about this lock, it wouldn't work.

I ran up to the door, and turned the knob, pushing in. I congratulated myself for something going right, finally, and put the beanbag back in my pocket.

I had the door about halfway open, and was stepping in, when it slammed back at me, hitting me in the nose, but I'd gotten a foot in the door, so it couldn't close. There was still absolutely no noise, but I saw holes appearing in the door next to my arm, and a plucking sensation on my left sleeve tried to pull my hand off the doorknob.

 _I've been hit in the head twice already, and now I'm being shot at through a door. I haven't even gotten into the building._

 _Not your day, Boss._

 _Loiosh, take the one at the door first, please._

 _Just handled it. You can't hear him screaming._

 _Good._

 _Can I do the rest of them, Boss? Please? They're trying to shoot me._

I wanted to say no, and tell him to get into cover, but I knew better. He had a new toy.

 _Go for it._

I threw open the door at the same time, and ran as fast as I could across the floor.

As I hoped, they started shooting at me. With very poor aim, thankfully. I ran about fifteen feet in a sprint from the door and then threw myself in a flying leap across the last ten feet between myself and the van I was hoping wouldn't explode when the ABB goons started shooting it.

I would have been fully justified to pull out my pistols and use them, even following my own rules, but I didn't need to.

Loiosh was a blur of motion, spinning and jerking through the air fast enough I could barely follow him with my eyes in the poor light. As I watched, the fourth man started screaming and clawing at his face like the other three were doing.

 _Boss, if we go home, we're bringing some of this stuff._

It wasn't a question. Loiosh didn't demand much, but this was something he'd fight for, I could tell. Seeing what he'd done to the four men made me think he was right.

 _You understand that Verra's the one you're going to have to ask, right?_

I walked from one man to the next, kicking forgotten guns away from them as they vomited and yelled in pain, clutching their faces.

 _You took stuff from there to here, Boss. Why not from here to there?_

 _Verra, Loiosh. Verra. If we do what she wants, whatever that is._

My ten Pillars were pulling four ABB gangers through the door. I could hear them doing it, so the beanbag wasn't absorbing sound any longer.

As soon as everyone was inside, the door was slammed closed. Jen ran to the cargo door, and opened it for our two vans, which bounced in at speeds that made me wince, but the drivers knew what they were doing. My only two combat veterans. They were ex-soldiers, one missing a leg, the other missing an arm and an eye. I had wished a thousand times that I could use sorcery to fix them.

 _They aren't my only combat veterans after today._

Everyone else did their assigned jobs at breakneck speed.

ABB gangers stripped, cuffed ankled, wrists, and ankles to wrists, and pushed out of the way against a wall

One collecting money. Fellow that went by Jules.

Two sorting drugs. My team leads, Jeff and Kirk.

Four checking the rest of the building, in two pairs.

Two stepping out of the cargo door that the vans had just entered by, with no weapons visible, as lookouts.

Jen, was walking my way from the open warehouse door. "What do you need me to do, Hannibal?"

"Check the ABB van for cash or drugs."

I wanted the van. Vans were expensive, and this one looked like it was new. I'd been warned that alarm systems could be hidden in vehicles though, and tracked. I could do something like that with witchcraft, but apparently anyone could do it here with technology. Completely unfair.

I'd settle for the money and the more-benign natural drugs though. "Money estimate?"

"Small bills, large stacks. Maybe a million." Jules wasn't his real name, and he claimed to be an ex-banker. Would have never thought he'd be any good in a fight to look at him.

Kirk and Jeff were rapidly sorting drugs into two stacks. Pot, hash, opium, shrooms, and cocaine in the keep pile. Everything else in the burn pile.

I didn't allow us to sell the cocaine raw. I had a chemist who mixed it into energy drinks in very small concentrations. He'd shown me proof on the internet that work crews building railways used to drink a coca syrup, and the people who actually lived where the stuff was grown chewed the leaf. In small doses it was useful. We had a bunch of wrecked buildings we were tearing apart, and using for raw materials for repairing buildings in better condition. The work crews appreciated the energy, and nobody had shown signs of addiction issues yet.

Loiosh settled on a table, several feet away from me, licking the nozzle of the canister in one claw as he stood on the other.

 _I love the smell of pepper spray in the morning!_

I sighed. _That is not the quote!_

 _Artistic license._ Loiosh laughed in my head.

I ignored him and walked over to where a fire barrel was burning. There was a half-cooked chicken on a spit across the top of the barrel mouth.

 _Looks like you two scored lunch._

 _We've been watching that since we flew in when they opened the cargo door for the van, yes._

I picked up the chicken and carried it over to the far side of the warehouse.

 _Go ahead. I know you're going to do it. Leave the used canister here. I'll get you a new one when we get back to base._

Loiosh flew over to the chicken and sprayed it with the pepper spray from all sides. Rozca fluttered down from the rafters. The two of them began tearing off chunks of meat with their claws, making piles of steaming meat. After a few seconds to cool, they started eating the meat.

Jen walked up to me. "I can't believe they eat that stuff, Hannibal." She paused a moment, staring. "Nothing in the van. What next."

"Check with-"

I raised a finger to Jen. "One second, Jen." I turned a little to face Jeff directly. "Jeff, what did you just put in your pocket?"

His shoulders slumped, and he pulled the small bag out of his pocket and tossed it on the burn pile. "Meth. It's light and sells well."

I turned back to Jen. "Check with Rick and Jamal, make sure they and the vehicles are OK."

Jen nodded and sprinted to the two vans. The drivers both stuck their heads out to talk to her as she approached.

"I've told you this during training. I will tell you _one_ time on a live mission. We burn _all_ drugs _except_ pot, hash, opium, shrooms, and cocaine. No exceptions except alcohol, if we happen to find it and it's worth hauling away. I've seen what the other drugs do to people, and the Pillars won't sell it. You'll get your cut of the take today to sell. Don't do it again."

He looked at me angrily.

I met his eyes. "This is not the time for you to think about suicide by me, Jeff."

He shook his head. "Sorry, Hannibal. Medicine is expensive. It's been tight recently."

"Who?"

Everyone else had stopped working and was staring at us. Without taking my eyes off Jeff, I spoke in a flat tone. "A-B conversation. Get back to work. Jen, if the drivers are good, help Kirk pack the keeper drugs and get them into the vans. If they aren't, tell me what they need."

"We're good!" shouted both drivers simultaneously.

Jen started running back to help Kirk pack drugs in duffel bags, and everyone else started working again.

Jeff looked at me and then the floor. "My sister."

"What's wrong with her?"

Jeff didn't want to say it, but after a second he spoke in a rough voice. "Cancer."

"Damnit. And you didn't tell me? You bring a list of her medicines, some pictures of her, and a bit of her hair or fingernails by the office tonight, and bring her to my office tomorrow before noon. No excuses. I might be able to help her. No guarantees, but if she's in chronic pain, I can damn well help with that."

 _Boss, we'll have to have her as the focus of a ritual for something like that._

 _There have been capes that pretended to be magical. Nothing wrong with us doing it too._

 _So we're going to pretend to be a cape pretending to have witchcraft powers?_

I laughed in my head. _Yes, Loiosh, I guess we are._

Jeff swallowed and looked at the floor. "Thanks-"

"Thank me when I actually do something. For now, help me drag this table over to the fire barrel, so we can start throwing the crap in when we're ready to move."

"Ah, shit." Jen's voice. Sounding frightened.

I dropped my end of the table as I turned towards Jen, reaching for a dart, and saw her standing in front of the laptop Loiosh had mentioned.

The screen had Lung's head and shoulders visible on it. There were flames visible around his eyes and nose. As I watched, his eyes flickered to where Jeff was now dragging the table without my help.

"Go help Jeff with the burn pile drugs, Jen."

She didn't move, staring at the screen. "Sorry Hannibal, I didn't notice earlier. I thought it was an ABB screensaver or something. I just saw his eyes move, following me, and then you."

I pulled her away by her right shoulder. When her eyes broke contact with the screen she ran off towards Jeff.

I stepped in front of the laptop. Lung's eyes scanned me up and down. "So, you lived." As he said it, he reached forward, and the image on the screen went black.

"We need to move NOW. Load up and burn it!" I yelled.

Everyone except myself, Kirk, Jeff, and Jen ran to the table where Kirk had been packing drugs and grabbed a duffel bag, then ran to the van.

Lung wasn't supposed to know I was still alive yet. I hadn't had time to plan a hit. I wasn't entirely certain I _wanted_ to plan a hit. The people of this world were all kinds of strange about rules on killing. I was also unsure if Lung's ABB operation was so damn sloppy and crude because he was a psychopath, or if he just didn't really know what he was doing, and was getting by mainly based on his powers making him untouchable.

"Here, sir!" I was handed the half-duffel of money by Jules as he grabbed a duffel of drugs, interrupting my thoughts.

Jeff and Jen finished throwing the burn pile drugs into the barrel within seconds. Pretty much everything I didn't allow us to sell was very low volume. They both threw a few pieces of broken pallet from the pile in after the drugs and the two of them ran to Kirk's pile of duffel bags.

We'd need to be out of the building fast before the drugs clouded the air. We'd also need to be sure to leave the cargo door open, or the ABB goons would die from overdose.

Kirk started throwing duffels across the warehouse floor at the two vans. Two lines of us formed, and in about thirty seconds, twenty more duffel bags of drugs, mostly pot by volume, were loaded in the vans.

Fifteen seconds after that, we joined the bags, in our seatbelt-less benches.

Twenty seconds after that, we were merging into traffic.

Thirty seconds after merging with traffic, the warehouse was no longer visible.

A minute later, I relaxed, smiled hugely at everyone in the van, patted the top of a duffel bag, and said "I love it when a plan comes together."

Jamal muttered something about "That show was a crime against soldiers." But was smiling into the rear view mirror when he said it. The others just laughed.

When we got back to base, I asked Jamal to follow me to my front office. When we were alone, I asked him about hos earlier comment. "What did you mean earlier, when you said the show was a crime against soldiers? They seemed like they were doing the right thing, mostly?"

"Knee-jerk reaction. I was a soldier. The show is fun for kids, but horribly fake. All the shooting of bullets with nobody dying, the ridiculous car explosions. Drama for ten-year-old boys."

Pieces started to come together. "I... see."

Jamal looked at my face, and his brow furrowed, then he started laughing. "Hahaha!" He gasped for breath, and fell into the seat in front of my desk. "You thought it was real, or meant to seem real? I would have never thought..." He looked at me. "You did say there were no guns of cars where you came from."

More pieces started to fit together in my mind. "So, vehicles don't explode like that, in the real world?" I waved my hands around me.

Jamal nearly lost his composure as he stared at me. His chest was jumping up and down as he suppressed laughter. Several seconds later, he gasped "No. Vehicles fires can be nasty if you're trapped, and they can explode, in certain very specific circumstances. He paused and grimaced. "Putting bombs in vehicles can be nasty too, but they don't blow up all the time like in the, ah, A-Team and other television shows and movies."

 _I feel like such a complete idiot._

 _Stop that, Boss, it's contagious._

"Thank you, Jamal. Every time I think I know something about this world, someone manages to throw a wrench into my understanding." I offered him a hand, both as a gesture of thanks, and as a hand up from the chair.

As he pulled himself to his feet, he kept his grip on my hand and looked at me, seriously. "You thought vehicles could blow up like that, and you still drove around in the van?"

"Gotta do what you gotta do." I shrugged.

He gripped my hand tighter, but not with enough pressure to hurt, and looked me hard in my eyes. "No games. You know how this is probably ending, right?"

I tightened my grip back, careful to not hurt him. "I've been in a lot of bad places, Jamal. I know all about what might happen. To me, to you, to everyone behind me." I paused for effect. "I've come close to losing before, but in the end, I always win. You can take that to the bank."

 _Banks aren't that safe, Boss._

 _Shut up, Loiosh._

He looked at me soberly. "You believe that. The name you stuck us with really means something to you." He let go of my hand. "Damn, I wish I still had my leg, instead of this hunk of plastic." He saluted, startling me. "Permission to be dismissed, sir?"

Pillars. Pillars of the Community. I'd been trying to get my people to understand that it didn't mean being perfect law-abiding citizens, especially when the laws were ignorant and clearly designed to improve the black market profitability of relatively benign goods and services that people wanted. It meant protecting your own while doing the least harm possible to others. How long would it take before the rest really understood it?

It was starting to feel like I was on the right path.

 _Loiosh, do you think this might be what Verra wanted?_

 _Boss, do you really want my opinion?_

 _Yes._

 _Maybe._

I chuckled at him mentally.

 _Thanks, Loiosh, let's stop by the herb shop and go get some dinner at Tony's_

"The books are in?"

"Yes. Sorry it took so long. Package delivery isn't what it used to be."

 _These people are so spoiled. I order a book, and it arrives in a week, and they apologize?_

I felt laughter in my head, but Loiosh didn't comment with discrete thoughts.

I counted out the money for the books, herbs, crystals, incense, and candles.

The shop owner took my money, looking a bit nervous.

"What?"

He got more nervous.

"Out with it. What's got you on edge?"

 _Nobody outside, Boss, front or back._

"Nobody's come to ask me for protection money yet." He mumbled. "I don't want a misunderstanding. You spend money on things that aren't drugs or prostitutes. You buy books."

Him recognizing me was a clear sign that the uniforms were working outside the Pillars. I didn't smile though, that would have probably scared him. "I read, so you feel safer talking to me?"

He nodded, shakily as he handed me the two bags, one with supplies, the other with the books.

"The Pillars don't take protection money. There's plenty of money to be made providing for people's vices, since the government has so generously made most of the more popular ones illegal."

"I'd heard that, but it's hard to believe. Even the Undersiders take protection money." The shop owner was twisting his hands at his waist, below the counter, nervously. I watched his hands, closely.

He seemed like a fairly smart guy. I decided to level with him. "I thought about doing it that way. They use the old fire insurance model. If you pay, the fire department will come put out your house or business if it's on fire. If you don't pay, the firemen show up with hotdogs and marshmallows. I didn't care for it. The government still does fire protection, and you pay taxes for that."

The man's eyes got bigger, and he stepped back from the counter as he clearly put two and two together, realizing that I was at a decision-making level in the Pillars, maybe even at the top. His hands were now in sight, which made me a whole lot less tense. He turned and quickly opened his cash drawer, frantically pawing through it, pulling out the bills he had just put there.

"Don't."

He stopped moving, and looked at me fearfully.

I continued. "Your money is yours. As long as the government helpfully keeps drugs illegal, and people still want them, we don't need to take protection money directly from you. The only reason the Pillars control the prostitution market is to make sure those ladies and gentlemen are treated well and have access to medical care. There's plenty of money in drugs, even in mostly-safe drugs."

He blinked as he looked at me, and his facial expression slowly relaxed, his hands still frozen in his till, trying to parse what I said for about a second before he nodded.

I turned my back and walked towards the door with my bags. "I pay just like the rest of my people do. We're not here to be parasites, we're here to provide infrastructure that actually works."

 _Street's clear, Boss. You know you can't come back here now, right? This is way too close to ABB territory, and the guy might talk._

 _Yeah, Loiosh, I know. Being at the top means giving away a lot of the little things._

 _Don't forget those five-hour energy drinks, Boss. If we're going to do a major ritual on Jeff's sister tomorrow, we're going to need a couple, and you're almost out._

 _I'm really going to need to learn how to make vitamin B-12 Loiosh. The stuff is incredible for psionic potency. As good as a Hawk egg, almost, and it lasts for hours with no downside._

 _You didn't even destroy all the blood inside your body when we erased the evidence against you._

Loiosh had not been very happy with that idea, and I would have never tried to use sympathetic magic to erase blood evidence against me without the extra psionic potency from the energy drinks. Blood had to be outside of my body for it to be a component of a directed sympathetic magic ritual, and because of that, the ritual could have easily eliminated the blood _inside_ my body as well as old blood _outside_ my body if the ritual hadn't been _perfect_. It had taken six hours and three energy drinks to be confident it would work, and Loiosh hadn't stopped bothering me about it on a daily basis since then.

 _You know I had to do it, Loiosh. You know how these people are about killings and evidence._

 _Yeah, Boss, just like we knew about exploding gas tanks._

 _Shut up, Loiosh._

"Antonio, I want you to order me some good Chinese food."

The short, pudgy man in a chef's apron stared at me, and said nothing. Clearly waiting for me to say something else, because I couldn't possibly have said what he heard. His expression was carefully bland.

I smiled at him. "I want appetizers from you, Antonio. Garlic bread, a sampler platter, a garden salad, and grilled peppercorn chicken gizzards and livers, but I can't eat Italian food all the time. Or, rather, I could, but I'm not from here. I want to try other food too. I trust your judgement."

He looked at me a bit oddly, and nodded. "I... think I understand. What do you want?"

"I don't know. I trust your tastes. Do you eat Chinese food?"

"Yes. I do, now and then." He nodded, cautiously.

"Good. Order me something _you_ enjoy. From now on, please try to think of something new for me to try. I'll pay for it, of course, and for your time." I paused, noting his continued confusion. "I get a private room with a window here, Antonio. Most places don't have that."

Finally, he nodded, with some understanding.

"That 'something new' can also be Italian foods you cook for me, if your Mama passed down some recipes you don't have on your menu. But today, I want to try Chinese food."

A cautious smile from Antonio. "I understand, sir. Broadening your horizons."

I rolled the phrase around in my mind, enjoying the feel of it. "Yes. Exactly."

"I'll order-"

"Surprise me, Antonio. Make sure appetizers I order won't clash too much with it though, and suggest different appetizers if that seems likely. If a wine or some other alcohol is appropriate, don't hesitate to suggest one, but it can't be more potent than a strong wine. I've eaten your cooking. I trust your tastes. I will take some klava though."

He nodded quickly, smiling happily, as he backed out of the room.

 _Nothing_ makes a restaurant owner, who is also an excellent chef, happier than being told they are trusted to provide a good meal, even if they aren't the ones cooking it. The chances of him _not_ knowing the best places in town to get other kinds of food from were near-zero. Good chefs are like that.

Not only that, but I'd taught him how to make Klava. Press coffee through a filter filled with eggshells, fine wood chips, and ground vanilla bean. Reheat it and filter it again through a cheesecloth to remove oils. That alone had probably made the tubby little Italian chef love me. I knew he was making a fortune selling it to other people than me, and trying to keep the recipe secret. I'd promised to not tell anyone else how to make it for two months.

I walked over to the window and opened it. Loiosh and Rozca flew in.

I sniffed the air, carefully, catching Loiosh's eye, intentionally, as I did. Not that that was necessary. Loiosh sees damn near everything.

 _I told you we were clean, Boss. We even washed ourselves in water._

 _I know, Loiosh, but the absolute last thing I want during a good meal is the smell of that pepper spray gas._

 _You don't know what you're missing!_

 _Yes. Yes, I do._

Loiosh at least had the sense to say nothing as I felt him laughing in my head. Tasers were bad when I tried them on myself, but no worse than a lot of spells, without permanent side effects other than bruises and little holes. Crowd control gasses of various types were atrocious. Pepper spray type crowd control gas was the worst. They sold it to hunters to stop _bears_. It was obscenely painful and debilitating.

You're looking at me funny again. I'm serious. There aren't many things in this world that scare me. Pepper spray is one of them, and fairly close to the top of the list. You lose all control when that stuff is eating your eyes, nose, throat and lungs, and you're vomiting your toenails. Everything is pain and none of the important senses work. Yes, that bobbing head means Loiosh is laughing at me right now. No, you can't pet him unless you ask him.

Fine. Now that the head scratching is done, I'll continue.

I started reading the four books I'd bought:

 _New Age Witchcraft in Five Easy Steps_ , 1998. Garbage. Utter garbage. Nothing even resembling witchcraft.

 _Ritual, Crystal, and Herbology, a Guide to Witchcraft_ , 1969. More garbage, but they had some properties of herbs and crystals right.

 _A Study of the Arts_ , 1922. This book actually seemed like it was written by someone who might have practiced, but suffered major brain damage before writing the book. A lot of correct information, but a lot wrong too. It referred to several much older texts, one of which I had actually bought.

 _The Unseen Arte_ , 1703. The book was carefully packaged in three layers of hard and soft packing materials, with the little moisture absorber packets that the people in that world put in their beef jerky. It had cost me nearly three thousand dollars. Within ten minutes I knew it was useless to me, but it did help me answer a question. It mentioned the church and witch hunts, and sold itself as a book that taught what the church claimed to have eradicated. I was now fairly sure that I knew what had happened. Witchcraft had been erased by religious institutions that didn't want to complete with it. I'd seen no evidence that real gods existed here, though it seemed likely that Verra, at least, had a way to travel here. Without real gods, witchcraft would be awful attractive.

Witchcraft against organized religion. It was an ugly picture. I suspected that the oldest book had been written as disinformation by some religious sect or another. There was a lot of very sound information, but all the critical parts were blatantly broken in ways so divergent from reality that accidentally getting things right would be nearly impossible. Nothing would actually work, but if you remembered Grandma or Grandpa talking about what herbs and crystals would do for focuses and charms, a lot of it would make sense. Enough truth to confuse.

 _You spent a whole lot of money to figure out what we already knew, Boss. Nobody here knows witchcraft._ Loiosh sent to me as he nibbled at a chicken liver.

 _I'll have someone type it up, and then go through and fix it. There's a lot of good, solid information in here. I can sell a handbook on witchcraft that works. This book has no copyright, so I can even do it legitimately. Might make some religious goons roll over in their graves, too. Burning witches. Makes me want to get a torch and visit a church myself, if it hadn't been over three hundred years. A lot of people died, and most of them probably didn't deserve it._

Loiosh said nothing.

I carefully repackaged the old text, then packed all four books into their bag. The appetizers, salad and garlic bread were about half-eaten. The klava was nearly empty, and cold.

 _Cawti would be giving me the evil eye for reading while eating in a restaurant._

 _You are a pretty easy target right now, if anyone on this Earth had any skill at all._

 _Don't get overconfident, Loiosh._

 _I'm not the one reading in a public place, Boss._

He had a point.

Antonio arrived, with a small cart, more klava, and something that smelled delicious. "What is it, Antonio?"

"It's called General Tso's Chicken, sir. The restaurant that made it is one I have eaten at. I did take a small portion for myself to make certain it traveled well, and the container added no unsavory taste."

I flipped my hand next to the plate, pushing air towards my nose. "That's fine, Antonio. It smells like this General Tso knew what he was about with chicken!"

Antonio's mouth twitched slightly, and he set the plate in front of me. The scent of fresh rice, fried chicken, sugar, some sort of hot pepper, salt, and garlic was strong.

"Let me know if you need anything else, sir." Antonio said as he checked the level of my pitcher of ice water.

"I will. Please send me the check in thirty minutes."

Antonio backed out of the room, smiling as he watched me teasing Loiosh and Rozca with pieces of the General's chicken. The teasing was more my two familiars pretending they couldn't take the chicken pieces from me, as opposed to me actually keeping them from taking it. Before Rozca lost patience with me and got serious, I placed a couple pieces of the browned fried chicken on each of their plates.


	5. Chapter 4

**POV Imp**

"You ponderous ass!" I yelled into his ear.

 _That's not right._

Lung raised his right hand to poke his ear with his finger, reflexively.

While he was reacting to my yell without knowing why, I used my smartphone to look up the word. As I was typing in 'ponderous', I remembered the right word.

When Lung was done poking at his ear, I yelled in the ear again. "You pompous ass!"

Ducking back again, I dodged the rapidly approaching hand for the second time. When he stuck his finger in his ear and wriggled it around again, I thwacked him on the earlobe with my index finger.

 _I love my job._

Looking over his shoulder at the laptop in front of him, I could see that he was initiating some sort of two-way video conference with slow, careful typing.

I moved out of the pickup of the laptop's camera. I'd bought the same model, when Lung upgraded his old laptop, and tested it with Lisa and one of her payroll tech nerds.

Standing well outside the camera's maximum viewing angle, I could still see the screen clearly enough to record it with my smartphone, so I checked to make sure I had plenty of memory.

I didn't. The phone's memory was nearly full. Porn.

 _I'm going to kill him._

It took me almost a full minute to delete the porn videos Samuel had loaded onto my phone, to 'broaden my horizons.'

Lisa thinks she's got it bad when it comes to sex. At least she can put a bag over her head or use a glory hole or something. I know damn well her power doesn't stop physical reactions.

When it gets good for me, shit ends. Regent was the only-

\- Too much info. Sorry. You're cute when you blush, Vlad.

\- Anyway.

Lung started talking with one of his lieutenants a few seconds before I could start recording. I didn't miss much.

I didn't say anything. The guy on the other side of the connection would hear me and might say something, which would be bad. Lung could turn his office into an oven pretty quick, even if he wasn't angry. He knew I fucked with him fairly regularly. He mostly ignored it, but if he thought I was in the room, he'd try to cook me. We'd played that game. That was why I was wearing the shiny fire suit things I'd made Tattletale buy for me after I saw guys wearing them in a steel mill.

The last game of 'let's try to cook Imp' was why Lung had bought the new laptop. And the new building. His new office was fireproof under the Japanese-looking stuff. I'd watched him test it with the contractors before they made it look nice.

Lung was sitting straight up in his chair in his fancy suit, looking serious and imposing. "Hibi. Did you receive the shipment, and were there any problems?"

"Yes, Lung. We got it. No problems. A bit short, they lost some to a couple raids, they said. I paid for what they brought, and only that. I'll bring a million two back to Ishi at central."

"What did they lose?"

"MJ. About half of it. Some cocaine and all the PCP."

"Unfortunate. They didn't try to overcharge or pretend they had it all?"

"No tricks, Lung. They admitted it before we even saw the product." The guy on the screen was super serious looking. I was pretty sure that Lung promoted goons just because they could keep a straight face. That way he didn't have to kill them when they laughed at him.

The fake-serious concentration followed by the nod made me want to stab him and leave a knife in him with a little pink bow. Again. Last time I did that though, Lung almost got me by accident when he flared without knowing why.

Tattletale was worth a hundred times as much as Lung, that I knew about. Hell, I had more money than Lung, but I kept it as a reserve for my area. Don't get me wrong, I have nice digs, but Lung had a _gardener_ , for his _office_. Colored rocks and little trees, Bonzi, or Bonzo, or whatever they are, all over the place. Mirrors and skylights.

If Lung wasn't such a cockwad, I wouldn't enjoy messing with him so much. He thinks he's a Corleone or something, when he's really a Doctor Evil. But he'll kill you for making fun of him, so he gets to pretend he's the Godfather, and everyone pretends to respect him and lets him play movie-land crime boss.

Even the PRT and the Wardens. Which was good, sortof. Tattletale used me to collect information on what Lung was planning, and we gave that to the PRT so they didn't bother us as much. Most of the reason they didn't bother us was because Tattletale was useful for her power, and-

\- Shut up, Vlad.

\- Yes. I can get to the point, but I need to learn to talk to people now, right?

\- You're telling ME that I talk too much? Even Loiosh thinks that's funny.

\- Whatever. Where was I?

Lung and his goon blah-blahed for no reason for another few seconds, and then there was some yelling that sounded like it was outside the building, from the goon's side of the screen.

"I need to see what that is, Lung."

Lung nodded like the guy had just asked to go to the restroom, and didn't say anything. A few seconds later, I watched a few of Lung's goons turn away from where they were processing drugs on folding tables. They pulled out guns and started shooting at something that was really fast.

Whatever it was, it looked like part bat, part snake, all awesome. Every time it got near one of the goons, they dropped their guns and started screaming and scratching at their faces.

\- I thought you'd like that, Loiosh.

\- Yes, Vlad, I know you have to live with him.

Well, as soon as it was clear there was a fight happening, Lung showed why he wasn't a crime boss. Instead of trying to give any orders to his people, or call others to go help them, he just sat and watched. Almost completely still, like a cat, with one of his fingers tapping the table top slowly, softly.

After about thirty seconds, there was a bunch of noises. Doors opening and closing. Engines revving, lots of orders being given, mostly by one man's voice that I didn't recognize. Lung's people were tied up and dragged away from the drugs. The attackers didn't kill them, or at least they said they weren't going to.

The whole time, Lung didn't say a word, just watching. Eventually one of the women in the group that had attacked did a double-take at Lung, as he stared at the screen.

She said "Aw, shit." Which is pretty normal for when you see Lung staring at you with his eyes on fire. The guy who had been doing most of the talking in the background walked up and turned the girl away from the screen as he talked to her, and she ran off.

Yes, it was Vlad. Calling himself Hannibal at the time. He didn't look afraid at all, which had to have pissed Lung off.

Lung said "So, you lived." Then he clicked the keyboard a couple times and closed the video connection.

I expected him to burn up another nice suit, but he didn't. That worried me a bit. Lung isn't stupid, he just acts like it most of the time, because he doesn't need to be smart. When he starts thinking, watch your ass.

It worried me even more when he opened his email and started typing out an email while talking to himself. I moved up close to him and watched over his shoulder, because I'd caught him saying one thing and typing another twice since he burned up the last office.

"Defiant. There is a new cape in Brockton Bay, starting a business that is competing with mine. I know this cape is a killer. I watched him kill several of my men in a warehouse when he attacked us the other day. When I attacked him to keep him from killing more of my men, I thought I'd accidentally killed him."

Lung paused a few seconds, then backspaced to clear the last sentence before starting to talk to himself and type again. "I attacked him to keep him from killing more of my men. After a single blow, I left him incapacitated. He was apparently the source of the master effect that scared everyone else away from the warehouse that night. He is a blade striker and a master with at least two little poisonous flying dragons that he can control."

Lung read over his email and nodded, then started typing again.

"I am attaching a screenshot of the man, in Pillars colors. If you would like to meet, I will confirm my story to you, and I have several of my men that will do the same."

He paused, and continued typing what he'd just said, making minor adjustments and attaching a screenshot he'd taken.

"He killed several of my employees. If you don't take care of him, I will. You will probably do it with less property damage. He's weak, but agile. After I beat him so easily last time, he will just run from me. You don't want that. I will follow him wherever he runs. I would prefer not to have to destroy a large section of the city to take care of this. You have two days."

I took an image of Lung's email. The Heartbreaker brats would love it.

Lung called in his ass-istant. Fortunately I didn't have to watch them having sex on his desk again. Every time that happened I was so afraid for the woman, even though she appeared to enjoy it. She had some serious brave, doing the nasty with someone who had the muscle to tank Leviathan and Scion, and tended to catch on fire when he was excited.

They talked in Japanese for a couple minutes. I recorded it all. Tattletale would get it translated. Lung had her check his suit to make sure it wasn't damaged and, finally, she bowed a couple times before leaving.

It was nearly five o'clock. Lung worked nine to five, usually. You know, gangster hours.

\- Shut up, Vlad.

I only had a few minutes before he left, and I had promised to meet with Tattletale at six unless something serious came up, so I pulled out the little vacuum-sealed bag with Lung's present in it.

About five minutes later, I'd hidden a dozen anchovies in different places around the room, including one in Lung's back pocket.

Lung started sniffing the air. Then his stomach growled. A minute later, he picked up his smartphone and speed dialed.

He started ordering sushi. Including anchovies, mackerel, and eel. All the dark nasty fish. I didn't even realize he liked the dark meat fish. He usually ordered a bunch of tuna. Lung would probably not be amused that I'd learned to eat sushi by stealing his lunch.

 _We'll see how much you like the smell in a week, mister._

**  
I opened the door and walked in.

"Hey Tats!"

The computer speakers repeated what I'd said, and the guy in front of her desk stopped talking.

Lisa pressed a button and talked to the computer. "I'll be done in a couple minutes, Imp."

She looked at her computer screen, and then at the chair where I was sitting. She clicked a few keys on the computer but didn't say anything else to me, yet. Apparently this was a private meeting, so I wasn't supposed to be here.

Not private enough for her to ask me to leave though. So I grabbed an emery board out of one of the coffee cups on her desk. Might as well do something while I waited.

Lisa looked at her computer monitor again. I knew she was watching me. I was laying on my back in the big overstuffed chair, doing my best cat impression as I worked on my toenails in the light from a floor lamp.

She turned to the guy in front of her desk. I'd seen him before, but didn't know his name. "How accurate is this information, Gabe?"

"It's hard to say. He hasn't allowed either of us to progress above the very lowest level in his organization, Tattletale, but we see nothing to indicate he's lied about any of his goals."

"He picked you two out?"

"Yes. On the third day, he brought the two of us into a room with half a dozen of his highest ranking people and his two reptiles. He told us specifically that he knew the two of us were from the Undersiders. He also told his people that we were not to be bothered, as long as we were willing to work at the lowest level of his organization, and didn't get too nosy. If we did get too nosy, we were to be bruised up a bit, but not crippled. After that we'd be tied up, and dropped off at Undersiders HQ."

"So, he wanted them to know who you were, so they knew not to talk around you."

"Probably, ma'am. He even told us to our faces that the only problem he had with the way the Undersiders ran things was that we took protection money, and didn't seem to really understand how to protect the community that was paying for protection, as evidenced by the ABB's recent growth."

Lisa stared at the scruffy man, intently. "I see. I'm not entirely happy with how the ABB has been encroaching either. I've been hoping Lung would get bored playing criminal, or go find a bigger city, but I think he's determined to stay here because of what Skitter did to him. He lost two fights here."

The man cautiously nodded, but said nothing.

 _Red polish. I know Lisa has red polish._

I hopped off the chair and picked up Lisa's purse. She saw me doing it in the camera, and stared at her monitor and then at her purse, a little cross-eyed. Her hand moved fractionally towards where her purse had been before I picked it up. I waved at the camera and smiled, holding up the bottle of red polish as I put her purse back where I'd found it.

Lisa turned her head back to Gabe. "Sorry, distracted by something there. Lung will overreach soon. I'm surprised he's gone this long without causing a big enough problem that the Wardens would have to step in.

Gabe didn't say anything. Lisa was obviously thinking and chewing her lower lip a bit. After a second she nodded. "So, what do you think of him? Nutters? Power-mad? Sociopath? Are we talking Al Pachino on Valentines Day, or Stalin, or what?"

"Ma'am, I haven't seen him act crazy yet. He's real sharp, but obviously isn't from this Earth. He makes fun of himself all the time because he didn't even know what a gun or a computer was before he came here, but he does get irritated if other people laugh too long. Never to the point of violence that I've seen or heard about."

The man fidgeted as Lisa stared at him again.

"So, you think he's sane, and playing it straight." She paused. "Yes, you do." Another pause. "Has he said where he came from? I've had my ears open, and I have not heard anything about a blade striker, reptile master, with possible low tinker and low thinker abilities in any of the Earths we've accessed. The reptile master should be a fairly easy giveaway. Those things are very distinctive, even if they are damn hard to get a picture of."

Lisa stood, pushing her chair back with the backs of her legs as she stood, before walking across the room to a small corkboard marked _Pillars of the Community._ She peered closely at two blurry photos of flying creatures, far away, and one very clear picture of the face of one of the lizards, that had been taken with the creature less than six inches from the smartphone. According to the photographer, she had taken two pictures from six blocks away. The reptile suddenly flew out of sight between two buildings, and thirty seconds later it ambushed her. It didn't harm her, just scared her.

That picture was one reason why we were just watching the Pillars. Lisa was able to read the lizard. It was of human-range intelligence. She said it was enjoying itself as it scared the photographer, ready to be more aggressive if needed, but content to just terrorize her. The photo also told Lisa that the little reptile was extremely poisonous.

Lisa slowly drew her finger across the text at the top of the corkboard. "The name is also quite grandiose. It smells like a Big Lie, even if I don't see any clear evidence that it is."

Gabe shrugged. "He's never said what Earth he's from, that I've heard. Only that he's from somewhere else, with low technology. I did hear him complaining loudly that he is highly unhappy with modern blade-makers. I also heard that he liked a few old antiques from before the Civil War, but couldn't use them because they were sized wrong for him."

"He comes from a primitive technology society with high quality blades, but understands the concept of welfare and community as well as individual rights?" She whistled tunelessly. "While possible, it's highly unlikely. Pre-industrial societies with a strong blade warfare theme rarely work that way. They are typically based on slavery, feudalism, sharecropping or something of a similar nature. I'm fairly sure I'm missing something, or you are, or he's passing disinformation."

Again, Gabe shrugged. "Do you want us to go back? We're not going to get the sort of information you asked for originally. Even if we tell him we're switching allegiances, he won't trust us for months, and if he's got a thinker power to detect loyalty, or whatever, then it won't do us any good to try."

"No." Tattletale bit her lip. "I'll be sending someone else. Thank you. You both earned a bonus. It'll be in your account in an hour. Good job."

Gabe nodded and then let himself out.

As soon as Gabe was gone, I concentrated, so Lisa could see me. "You'll be sending someone else to spy on the guy, huh? I wonder who?" I put a fake-confused look on my face.

"I'm thinking about it." She paused. "Aisha, please put your butt where your back is. Trying to talk to you when you're lying on your back in the chair with your feet on the wall and your face upside down is distracting."

"You're the boss, boss." I turned right side up, and tossed her the bottle of polish, which she caught and put back in her purse.

"You're welcome for the polish, Aisha."

"Oh, thanks, Lisa!" I stopped suppressing my power, ran around the desk and picked her up in a big hug, then turned off my power. "Love you too!"

She went stiff for a second and then started laughing. "I'm going to put a taser in my blouse someday Aisha."

"I'll be shocked if you do."

She laughed. "How long have you been waiting to use that one?"

"Since two days after the last time you told me that, last week." I replied as I let her go. She gave me a brief hug before letting go. That was a good sign. Lisa really didn't like physical contact at all. When she was willing to hug, even a little bit, she wasn't pushing herself too hard.

"The last time?" She looked puzzled.

I gave her a big grin.

She shook her head. "Never mind."

We both laughed as Lisa picked gathered a pen and a notepad and started to write in shorthand to record the meeting.

"That's cheating you know." I teased.

"I'm a cheating cheater that cheats, Aisha. You should know that by now."

She'd promised to teach me shorthand. I was avoiding it. I had a smartphone for recording things. I was already doing enough studying, trying to improve my vocabulary so I didn't sound like a thug. I didn't need to learn a third way to write English. Printing and cursive were enough.

"So, you want me to check out this Hannibal guy in the Pillars?"

She nodded. "I do."

"Before that, you will want to see what I got today, while I was checking up on Lung."

"Aisha. How many times-"

I poked her in the nose, and she looked mad for a second before I locked eyes with her. "The sneaky one does not tell the brainy one how to brain. The brainy one needs to avoid trying to tell the sneaky one how to sneak."

"You're underestimating him, and I know you're intentionally antagonizing him."

"Probably less of the first than you imagine, Lisa."

She looked at me for a few seconds. "Fine. We need intel, I just wish you would take fewer risks, and antagonize him less. You _can_ be caught. You _have_ been caught before."

 _You really went there?_

"Damn near getting myself turned into a Bonesaw special was a hell of a learning experience, Tattletale, I _did_ learn to be a lot more careful after that."

I had used her cape name intentionally, to make it clear that she was pushing too hard.

After a second, she nodded. "Sorry."

"No need to be sorry, Mom. I uploaded the data to the intel drop box already. You want the last fifteen minutes of recording now, before I go. I'll need an update on the Pillars. I haven't been over there yet. All I know is the basics."

"There's not much more than the basics. I'll push everything we know to your inbox. One second. Aaaand... There."

Lisa examined the data I'd sent her, and I poked at the data she'd sent me.

After a few minutes, Lisa stopped watching her computer screen and started scribbling shorthand. "That's the first video and audio I've been able to get of the Hannibal guy. His name isn't Hannibal. He doesn't react to it right. They didn't kill anyone. That's not matching up with Lung's claims. Lung's not stupid enough to try to lie to Defiant. Everyone knows he has a lie detector that's almost as good as me, and Dragon to back him up for data."

Lisa was talking to herself, not me. "He came from a primitive world. He's acclimating. I'd bet that the ABB started the fight where he killed some of them, but if Lung is pushing Defiant, and he's telling the truth, Defiant will act."

"So, do you want to just see what happens, or do you want me to go watch him."

"Watch him tonight and tomorrow. I doubt Defiant will act without at least speaking with Lung, and he'll probably get some intel from Dragon, who I'll be sending this data as well, along with my assessment."

"Lisa, if he's really killed a bunch of people that weren't on the kill list, that's going to be hard to look past."

"There aren't any baseline people in the bay who are on the kill list. A lot will depend on why he did it, if he did it. We've had a few capes from primitive societies filter through the cracks looking for a better place to live. Some of them from very brutal societies. If there is an arrest attempt, watch, but stay out of the way. I want to know what he does when threatened, OK?"

"Fair enough."

"If he's captured by the Wardens or the PRT, I'll probably be able to manage a way to arrange to speak with him. If Dragon can keep Riley alive and active, I wouldn't mind a chance to collect this fellow if he's not too toxic. Everything he said to his people while Lung was listening rang true. We could use him if he doesn't clash too much with any of us, personally."

I wasn't so sure about that. "From a primitive society? If he's from some seriously awful backwater, Sabah, Lily, and Rachel could all clash pretty hard with him. So could we, though probably not as bad."

Lisa pursed her lips. "I doubt that will be an issue, really. The Pillars have gone from nothing to a substantial little operation in just a few weeks. If he was from some sort of hyper-patriarchal society that had problems with people that are different from him, he probably wouldn't have been able to grow the Pillars so quick. And he did it between our territories, the most dangerous place to start, while only aggressively going into ABB territory. Our only clashes with his people have been when our people went after his."

She kneaded her temples with her thumbs. "If he's as good as he seems to be, he could potentially take a lot of weight off me, and give you pointers on how to run things _without_ needing a thinker power. I'd really like you to start doing more than just spying, but I can't teach you how to do it the way I do it."

 _I like spying, Lisa._ I didn't say it. I knew I didn't need to.

The idea of Lisa facing up to a blade striker was not anything I liked though. "Body double, the first time, if you talk to him face-to-face, and I _will_ be there. The last time you talked to someone with a blade power, it didn't go well."

Lisa rubbed her mouth, with a sour look on her face. "Agreed. No desire to repeat that."

"You, sir, are a boring person, you know that?"

Of course, Vlad didn't know that. I was sitting on the opposite side of the room from him, and not deactivating my power.

I didn't dare get close to him. The freaky lizards-

\- What? Oh. Stop looking at me like that.

...

...

...

\- Sorry, I lost my concentration for a bit, we lost a few seconds there. I'll start over.

I didn't dare get close to him. Vlad's two awesome lizards couldn't track me, but they were at least a bit immune to my power. When I'd grabbed a fried cheese stick off the sampler platter, both of the lizards' heads snapped towards my hand. If they had completed the motion, I would have been bitten before I could move. They weren't just too fast to dodge. I literally hadn't seen them move. One second they were nibbling little pieces of meat on their own plates, the next, they had their mouths open, little green stains on teeth that were only a few inches from my hand. Vlad looked at the two of them very strangely, then all three of them shook their heads, and my power cleaned up their memories.

At some level, automatic reflexes, they were reacting to me. But after the automatic reflexes reached their conscious minds, it turned off. That's my best guess anyway. It still scared the hell out of me, so I gave them plenty of space.

Vlad was eating and reading. I had slowly, carefully, moved close enough to see the titles of the books. Witchcraft. He clearly wasn't very happy with the first three books, only reading a couple pages of each. The fourth one was a lot older, and had been carefully wrapped. He flipped back and forth in that book for several minutes. It apparently made him think, and he looked a bit angry for a while.

 _Another Myrddin? Thinks his powers are magic? That would fit with a primitive society._

When the chef came back, I was shocked. Vlad really had ordered Chinese food in an Italian restaurant. When he'd been talking to the chef, I thought it was some sort of code for a drug deal or something.

I helped myself to some of the food. I even tried the coffee, which was damn good. I'm not usually a coffee person, but I'd been awake a long time already, and needed something to pick me up. The restaurant called it Klava. I made a note to come back and learn how to make it later. Whatever they did to it was worth learning.

Watching Vlad and the lizards was otherwise boring. Vlad didn't talk to himself. He was clearly communicating with the two lizards in some way though. The two lizards were also clearly communicating with one another as well. I recorded some footage for Lisa. I don't speak lizard.

After a while, he finished and left the restaurant. I followed him back to the Pillars' HQ.

As he entered, Vlad asked a guy in one of the downstairs rooms. "Keith, did Jeff send me the information I needed, and some of his sister's fingernail clippings?"

"Sure thing, Hannibal." He was already leaning forward, handing over a thick manila envelope, which Vlad tucked under one arm.

After that, Vlad did not take the elevator, even though I saw the floor indicator moving. Ten floors. He _ran_ up the stairs. Disgusting. He claims to be a normal human. I call bullshit.

\- Yes, Vlad, bullshit. You do that hoodoo bullshit, or something. Nobody runs up ten flights of stairs at a sprint without needing to breathe hard. Not without at least a bit of brute or mover power, or magic whatever.

\- Lalala I can't hear you. No way I'm spending that much time exercising.

\- Stop laughing at me.

\- Well, back to the story.

I barely managed to catch back up to Vlad before he entered his apartment and closed the door. I stuck my foot in the door and pushed it open after he walked away, letting myself in.

Vlad walked away a couple feet, then turned back around and came back with an irritated look on his face. "I really need to fix the door." He didn't even seem to notice that he hadn't locked the door the first time.

\- Yes, Vlad, that really is bullshit. Space whale magic bullshit in my head. I didn't do a billion crunches for it, or whatever. Loiosh is laughing at you.

\- Stop interrupting me, Vlad. I know you cheat with magic. Somehow.

The first thing Vlad did after he closed and locked the door was go to a window and open it. His two lizards zipped in the window and landed, one on each of his shoulders.

Vlad's apartment was a little place. He apparently lived in the living room. Imagine that. The bedroom was some sort of magicky-workshop. The whole floor in the bedroom was poured concrete, very smooth.

"You aren't expecting a security deposit back, are you?" Since there was no way I would let him see me up close for even a second with his turbo-lizards on his shoulders, he didn't respond.

I spent the next five hours watching him drink energy drinks, draw on the floor with chalk, and mix things in a stone bowl with-

\- Yeah, a mortar and pestle, thanks Vlad. Now shush.

I stole an energy drink from him too. I clearly needed it more than him.

About four hours into being bored out of my skull, I started playing with him. The first time I rubbed out a little spot on the diagram, it took about three seconds after I stepped away before the smaller lizard, that's Loiosh, noticed it. He looked at it really closely too. He was clearly speaking with Vlad about it. I smudged another spot, and about five seconds later, the new smudge was found.

They were hyper-aware of the diagram. The diagram was ten feet in diameter, and really complex. They were spotting tiny smudges from my pinkie finger in seconds. That was impressive, and woke me up.

Vlad was looking around the room very carefully, with his left hand under his right arm. For a couple seconds I thought he was, somehow, seeing me, but he didn't say anything. He did, however, get a little vial of something, cut his thumb with a knife, and dripped some blood into the vial. Then he poured the stuff onto the ground on the diagram, and it spread to make all of the chalk markings over the entire diagram pink instead of white.

\- I recognized a trap when I saw one. What would have happened if I'd touched it, Vlad?

\- No comment? Fine, keep your secrets.

\- What were you preparing the ritual for, anyway?

\- Wait. You can cure cancer with witchcraft?

...

...

...

\- Sorry about that. I was a bit stunned there. Where were we?

\- So, you can sure cancer, Vlad? Like, any cancer?

\- Oh, not all of them. The girl was small too. I see.

\- Still, that's awesome!

After a while, Vlad started yawning, and one of the two lizards stole an energy drink from him before he could drink it. He didn't say anything, just pouted at the lizard that stole the energy drink, I'm pretty sure it was Loiosh. When he got another drink out of the box of drinks, the other lizard stole it.

I laughed my ass off. The lizards were clearly telling him it was bedtime.

So he pouted some more, but eventually stood up and staggered back into the living room, undressed, and collapsed onto a pull-out couch bed. His clothes rattled when they hit the floor.

The lizards did not get into bed with him. One of them actually went over to a computer and started typing on the keyboard with the claws of one foot. When I looked, from several feet away, it was filling in a calendar entry for the next day 'finish ritual diagram'. Three hours from the current time.

I was beat too, and needed some sleep, so I snuggled up to Vlad. I'd never slept with a guy that wore boxers and a knife under his right armpit to bed. He was a good foot warmer, and smelled like garlic and cinnamon.

\- What do you mean, 'what?' I was tired, and it was cold in the apartment. Men always think it's ten degrees warmer than it really is, or something. There was one bed, and I wasn't sleeping on the cold, hard floor when I had a warm beefcake to cuddle up to.

\- No, Cawti won't kill you.

\- Whatever, Vlad.

...

...

...

\- What? Oh. Sorry about that, I lost my concentration. I really need to get some sleep soon.

Anyway, I wasn't going to sleep in the same bed with a guy wearing boxer shorts and a knife under his right arm. That's just weird. I decided to be miserable and sleep on the cold, thin carpet instead. When Vlad went to sleep, I stole all his blankets and made a nest on the floor. Of course, he never even woke up. Men are furnaces or something.

\- And you snore. Loudly.

\- I don't care what Loiosh says.

The next morning at oh-god-thirty or something, Vlad stepped on me, right on the kidney. I was cold, miserable, stiff, tired, and then he stepped on me. He didn't even notice. I glared at him as he staggered into the kitchen, scratching his butt and muttering to himself about klava.

Men.

Of course, I did the only reasonable thing after being miserable and cold on the floor for hours. I got up off the floor, threw the blankets on the bed, took Vlad's orphaned warm spot, and went back to sleep.


	6. Chapter 5

_Boss, the ritual diagram just changed._

 _What?_

Loiosh turned his head to stare at a point of the diagram. When I looked, I saw the break.

 _How?_

 _No, Rozca didn't do it, and neither of us did it by accident._

I stopped the half-formed thought Loiosh had already answered.

Loiosh looked closely at the smudge. _I can see some oil mixed into the chalk. I think that was done with a bare finger, boss._

I repaired the smudge, and a few seconds later, Loiosh found another spot where the circle had been broken.

 _Stranger in the room, Loiosh. Don't react. It's likely Imp._

 _You do remember that I was part of the planning, boss?_

I put my hand on Lady Teldra, and concentrated, checking to see if I could see Imp with her help.

 _No luck. Can't see her._

I'd been afraid of that. Lady Teldra seemed to work mostly based off my own senses. If I couldn't see Imp, neither could she, at least when sheathed, and I wasn't unsheathing her in my own headquarters without damn good reason.

 _Plenty of luck. You're not dead_. Loiosh shot back, instantly, as he fluttered his wings nervously and looked around the room.

 _Loiosh, if the Undersiders killed off their enemies, Imp could have solved Lung long ago. They know insect poisons can kill him when he's still mostly human. Skitter almost shined him that way, years ago. Since Lung is still alive, she's here to watch me, or I'd already be dead._

 _Perfectly invisible assassin cape in the room, and you want me to relax? What if Lung paid for her to kill us?_

 _Unlikely, Loiosh. The ABB and Undersiders don't work together. It's not like we aren't used to annoyingly invisible people. How many times could Kragar have shined us if he wanted? He's almost as invisible as Imp._

 _We knew Kragar._

 _Not when we first met him._

 _Vlad, we're an upstart operation on the Undersider territory border. Weaker than the ABB. We'd make a good 'example'._

That was a much more serious concern. Loiosh and I 'stared' at each other, psionically for a second or two as I continued to scan the room.

 _If you don't want her to know we know she's there, Boss, stop glaring around the room with your hand on Lady Teldra._

I followed Loiosh's very good advice.

 _This ritual is important. We can't have her interfering_ , I mused to myself.

Loiosh picked up on that immediately. _She's marred the circle twice, set a trap?_

 _If I didn't know better, Loiosh, I'd think you could read my mind._

All I received in response to that was a brief irritation.

Imp had already touched the circle twice, so setting up a little trap was simple. The oil and skin left behind by her touching the circle could be used as a targeted binder for a sleeping enchantment.

\- Yes, you asked me before, but we're telling a story here, right? The reader wants-

\- I did know you were there.

\- No, I'm not making it up after you told your part of the story. Ask Loiosh.

\- You know better than that, Loiosh would love me to try to get him to lie to you for me.

Anyway, I had to prime the enchantment with energy, and I was the only convenient, acceptable source. A little of my blood and a bit of this and that in a vial, and a quick modification of the diagram to account for the new energies was all that was needed. Application was simple, the diagram accepted the energies easily.

Even with the energy drinks I'd already taken in me, rapidly generating a powerful enchantment effect was mentally tiring. A few minutes later, I started to open another energy drink, and Loiosh hopped into brief flight faster than I could react and stole it from me with a deft claw grab.

 _I need that, Loiosh._

 _Only if you keep working._

 _And I need to keep working._

 _No, you need sleep._

 _This has to be done by-_

 _Boss. Familiar. Even the energy drinks only do so much. I can feel how tired you are. Bed. Now. Ritual preparations later._

I tried one more time to get an energy drink, and Rozca stole it from me.

 _You two are going to keep me from working, then?_

 _That's what 'no' means, boss. This isn't life and death._

 _Fine. I'll get a couple hours sleep._

 _We're missing an energy drink too, Boss._

 _Imp is tired too, I guess._

 _But she's not preparing a ritual diagram._

I sighed, and stowed away the ritual supplies and energy drinks, then wandered back to the bed in the other room and collapsed. Loiosh promised to wake me in a couple hours.

 _I can't believe you're sleeping here when you know she's here._

 _If she wanted me dead, I'd already be dead, Loiosh._

A couple hours of sleep and a large mug of Klava later, I finished working on the ritual circle. Loiosh and I inspected it very closely, and found no evidence of it being disturbed again.

 _Did you think she would watch us make a trap for her, and then get caught in it?_

 _Loiosh, shut up._

The final preparations were fairly straightforward. Ten minutes of drawing with chalk, and a child-sized sleeping draught.

Jeff and his sister, Jasmine, arrived a little early, so Loiosh and Rozca played 'cute baby dragons' with her to keep her occupied. I could see that Jeff was nervous about that for a few seconds. He'd seen the two jhereg fight, but he relaxed after a short while.

The ritual itself was straightforward, but draining. Jasmine's body wanted to be healthy, and her cancer was still centralized in only a couple places, so her body remembered what healthy was. She drank the draught, went to sleep, then I put her in the middle of the circle and convinced her body to reject the cancer. Two hours and half a dozen energy drinks worth of feeding psionic energy into the ritual diagram. What would have taken a small coven of witches back home, I did myself, though it did take me longer.

\- Yes, I'm bragging. I do that.

Eventually, Jasmine's body agreed to treat the cancer as an infection, and I fed her immune system a healthy dose of energy to get it working properly.

The hardest part was ignoring Jeff, who was sitting in the chair across the room with a serious case of big-brother-itis, staring at me and his sister. He'd almost certainly brought her to see me without his parent's permission. He didn't tell me that he'd try to kill me if I hurt his sister. He didn't need to.

When I was finally done, I helped Jasmine's body concentrate briefly on removing the sedatives and other drugs from her system, and she woke rapidly.

"Hello, Jasmine. How are you feeling?"

"Good. Where is Loiosh? Oh, there he is!" She charged across the room towards my 'baby dragons', breaking the circle in half a dozen places, but the magic was spent, so no harm done.

Jeff stared at his sister for a few seconds before standing and walking across the room to pick her up in a bear hug. There was a lot of happy, sappy stuff that you can better imagine than I can tell you about.

Eventually, Jeff put his sister down, and she immediately ran to go play with Loiosh and Rozca again.

"She could barely walk when I brought her in here." Jeff turned to me.

"I saw. The cancer and medicines were taking a lot out of her." I responded.

"Hannibal, I don't know how to thank you-"

I waved my hand, interrupting him. "Jeff, there's no need. I take care of my people. That includes the immediate family of my people."

"I'm not sure my parents will believe she's cured." Jeff watched his sister gently scratch Rozca's head.

"Don't expect them to be. Your parents should see the change in energy levels as easily as we can, but any parent worth a damn will want to be sure. If you need money to see a doctor, to verify she's cured, let me know. Try to avoid starting her back on her treatment drugs – she's drug-free right now and no longer addicted to opium-based drugs. Putting her back on them will reduce her energy levels again and possibly get her re-addicted. I will understand if that happens in the next few days, but if it happens more than a week from now, we'll talk." I gave him a serious look.

Jeff looked from me to his sister, and back. "Understood, sir. We can afford a doctor's visit." He paused, and smiled hugely. "Sis, we have to go. Mom and Pop will want to see you, don't you think?"

Jasmine froze in place, briefly, looking from Rozca and Loiosh to her brother and back before standing and giving each of the jhereg another quick head-scratch. "I guess so."

Both of my familiars were obviously basking in the attention and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

 _Hedonist._ I accused Loiosh.

 _Whose idea was it again, for the two of us to pretend to be cute baby dragons?_

As she bounced over to her brother with the energy she'd been missing before, I reached down and carefully rubbed Jasmine's bald head with one hand, then knelt in front of her to look her in the eye. "Jasmine, your body agreed to start growing hair again real fast for a couple weeks, then it will slow down. No more wigs for you in a few days, unless you want to wear them."

"Thank you, Mr. Hannibal. I feel better." It was my turn for a hug.

After the two of them left, I locked my door, sent a text message to Keith in the office that I wasn't to be bothered unless it was an emergency, and then collapsed into bed again.

I woke up two hours later, to a mental warning scream from Loiosh.

 _Boss! Wake up, we're-_

I was already out of bed and standing with my right hand on Lady Teldra's hilt before I realized that Loiosh hadn't finished his sentence.

 _We're what, Loiosh?_

There wasn't anyone or anything that appeared dangerous in the room.

Loiosh was on the bed, head held a bit low.

 _I was Imped._

He nudged a piece of paper at his feet with his head, and pieces fell together.

 _Ah, I see._

 _Boss, it just appeared in the air a couple feet above you. Sorry._

That was the second time in recent months that Loiosh had missed a potential threat getting very close to me. I comforted him. _I get it, Loiosh. Thanks._

I could still feel that he was irritated with himself, but he accepted a head scratch as I picked up the offending folded sheet of paper.

Hannibal,

I missed your show with the stuff on the floor in the other room, but Tattletale has seen enough video I took of you to make up her mind that you aren't running the Pillars just for personal power. She wants to meet, and discuss bringing you and your people into the Undersiders, or at least into some sort of neighborly agreement. You definitely have things to teach that we need to learn, and we have a lot more money and power. Both of our organizations are at odds with the ABB. If nothing else, the Undersiders would consider a non-aggression pact against the ABB, and offer material support to allow you to expand into ABB territory. Use this dedicated email address to respond yes, or no, and ask any questions you like.

TalkTat5613 

Imp

PS. Tattletale wanted me to make it clear that she knows you want this discussion.

PPS. I want to make it clear that if you manage to hurt Tattletale, I will end you.

Absently, I folded up the paper and tucked it into the pocket of my jacket, which was draped over a chair next to the bed.

Imp and Tattletale working together, with the technology of smartphones, had made first contact far faster than I would have.

 _We didn't even have to prove ourselves competent in an actual fight, Loiosh._

 _Boss, we already knew the Undersiders were soft._

 _That's not the word I would use. I get the feeling that if Tattletale and Imp wanted to, they could end every threat against them rather quickly._

 _The word for that is soft, Boss._

 _Restrained. Pensive._

 _Hobbled. Indecisive._

 _We'll see when we meet with them.  
_  
The intercom interrupted our discussion. "Hannibal, Keith here. We have a problem."


	7. Chapter 6

I hit the intercom button on the end table next to the bed. "What problem?"

"Uh, sir, Defiant just rolled up on his motorcycle, walked in, and has demanded to see you. He's staring at me now. Probably listening to us talk even though I'm in the sealed room."

A new voice interrupted our conversation. Male. "I am. Hannibal, Jhereg, Vlad, or whatever your name is, I don't want to risk injuring anyone in this building, but we're now setting a cordon of Dragon's Teeth around the block. They all have programing for melee mastery and area effect ranged weapons. Neither you nor your little dragons have any chance in a fight today, so let's not have one. Come down and place yourself in my protective custody if you care about the people in this building. Cape battles in apartment buildings tend to create a lot of collateral damage."

"You are pushing a lot of the right buttons, Defiant, but not all of them." I flipped the cover off the box on the wall next to my bed, and activated one of the several evacuation buttons.

Throughout the entire building, horns hooted loudly, but not so loud as to be painful. The building would be empty in five minutes or less, except for me and my familiars. I made sure the pattern of the horns was correct.

"You will not get away in the crowd." Defiant growled.

"I don't plan to, Defiant. Keith, give the gentleman my apartment number."

I turned off the intercom and started getting dressed.

 _This wasn't in the plans, Boss._

 _I know, Loiosh. Something happened to upset things, or I miscalculated. Still, dealing with Defiant this early wasn't in the plans, but dealing with Defiant eventually, was. We'll just rearrange things._

As I started rapidly putting on the rest of my clothing and arranging various sharp pointy things so they didn't do me any harm or interfere with my movements, Loiosh suddenly nipped a fly out of the air with a lightning strike of his head.

 _Now? Are you that hungry?_

 _It wasn't a fly, Boss._

He hopped into the air and settled onto my shoulder.

 _Hold out your hand._

 _Didn't we get over this years ago, when I finally convinced you that I didn't want to share all of your food?_

 _Shut up, Vlad, and hold out your hand. It's shocking me._

I held out my hand, and Loiosh spat out something that did look like a big fly, but then it sparked, shocking my hand.

"Ow. Hello Dragon." I said aloud, but there was no response.

 _Lovely. Either Dragon is also nearby, or Defiant is using some of her surveillance drones. Things just got more complicated._

 _Boss, chances are very good that there's more backup too._

 _I'm not so sure about that. Defiant, Dragon's teeth, and possibly Dragon. All of them either not alive or armored against blades, and they are only after me._

Loiosh projected a sense of 'if you say so' across our link, then I felt him grousing about the feel of blisters in his mouth.

I finished getting dressed in about ten seconds, then walked over to the large glass-fronted cabinet with my action figure collection in it.

 _Boss. Are you sure you don't want to just run away?_

 _We probably can't. Especially if Dragon has larger remotes nearby. Not without being a lot more violent than I want to be, or using Lady Teldra. Besides, they probably expect me to try to run, so I won't._

I heard the stairwell door open and heavy footsteps coming down the hallway at a rapid pace, just short of a jog.

 _Defiant would fit right in with the Dzur._ I commented mentally to Loiosh. _No subtlety at all._

 _He did try to fight in melee with Leviathan,_ my familiar responded, thoughtfully.

 _Definitely Dzur material._

As Loiosh bantered, I walked over to the kitchen counter, out of sight of the hallway door and rapidly spread thirty-three action figures on the counter.

Loiosh hopped off my shoulder, carefully setting himself down on the counter next to the action figures, examining each one of them minutely, and organizing them around him as I put my cold cup of Klava in the microwave.

 _Is everyone doing what they are supposed to be doing, Loiosh?_

 _Rozca says yes._

 _Good._

 _I bet you a fat teckla that he breaks down the door._

 _There aren't any teckla here, boss._

 _Fine. A piglet then._

 _No bet. You just compared him to a Dzur, and it made sense._

The heavy footsteps slowed in front of my apartment, so I pushed the thirty second button on the microwave, and it started reheating my klava.

There was a loud hum of powerful electronics, and a blade of light suddenly made an oval circle around the doorknob and lock of the door.

The door was rapidly pushed open, and the oval cut out of door and wall fell to the ground and bounced into two pieces.

"It was unlocked." I calmly said, carefully keeping my hands hidden behind the counter as the armored man moved one step into the room, his halberd held ready.

"You didn't give yourself into my custody, and evacuated the building. You expect a fight."

"No, I do not expect a fight, but it's possible, and it would be irresponsible of me to endanger the people in this building. You do not exactly have a good record as a talker, Defiant. Or should I say, Armsmaster?"

He stared at me for a second, motionless, then his head cocked slightly. "You're telling the truth, and that's not a guess."

"Of course. I know you have a lie detector, so it would be stupid to try to lie to you." I let him digest that for a second. "Oh, sorry, I need to ask this - I know you have a lot of mechanical and electronic parts replacing bits and pieces of you that you lost to Mannequin. No pacemakers or anything that actually keeps you alive, right?"

Defiant was silent for a second, and tensed before forcing himself to speak in a grating tone. "If you are trying to start a civil conversation, that wasn't a good start."

I slowly raised my hands into view, palms open towards him. "I've heard that microwaves and pacemakers don't mix. I'm reheating some klava, and no, you can't have any. You're an uninvited guest."

The microwave dinged, punctuating my statement. I looked at it, then looked at Defiant. "Can I get my klava? It's no trick."

More staring, but Defiant didn't make any threatening moves. He seemed to actually be attempting to get me to leave with him by choice, rather than by force. That was a good thing for both of us. I didn't want to have to hurt or kill him. Fighting the city guard was almost always a poor choice.

After about two seconds, he sighed and spoke again. "Get your klava, whatever that is. No, I'm not dependent on any machinery to survive. And microwaves and medical electronics are both shielded much better these days."

I shrugged. "Good. I wouldn't want to accidentally cause you a serious problem. I'm still learning about technology. Just the other day, I had it explained to me that gas tanks in cars don't explode in real life like they do on TV." I smiled. "Unless someone who knows what they are doing makes them explode."

He chuckled, but didn't relax.

Loiosh was curled up in my mind like a viper, watching Defiant through my eyes, waiting.

 _Calmer, Loiosh, this feels like it's mostly on track._

Loiosh almost ignored me, barely flickering an acknowledgement before resuming his observation of Defiant.

I pushed a thought at him. _You're making it harder for me here, Loiosh._

 _Sorry, boss._ His presence in my mind didn't relax.

I sighed mentally, and was ignored, then slowly opened the microwave and pulled out the warmed mug of klava.

Defiant was carefully watching me the entire time. "I just realized who you remind me of."

"Do tell." I commented as I pulled a chair away from the table with my unoccupied hand, and turned it so that the back of the chair was facing Defiant.

As I straddled the chair backwards, making sure my feet were placed in such a way that I could push the chair at Defiant if he attacked, without tripping myself, he responded. "Marquis."

"I've corresponded with him. We see eye-to-eye on many things, not so much on others." I spoke, carefully sipping my klava, even though it was not hot enough to burn my mouth. "Politeness, whenever possible, is definitely one place where we agree. Especially when speaking with the representatives of government and others in positions of power."

"And yet, I'm standing."

"You're standing next to a piece of my wall and a piece of my door that you destroyed to open an unlocked door that you could have just knocked on."

"You killed at least six men. Despite the fact that Lung and his people were very careful about what they said, they were very clear on that."

"Pay very careful attention to your lie detector, Defiant." I stared at him over my klava cup, held in my right hand in front of my mouth. "I was forcibly teleported into midair, several feet above a table full of pizza boxes, in the middle of a meeting of Lung and about a score of his people."

I took a sip of klava before I continued, my eyes locked on his visor. "I was uninvited. They thought I had been spying on them, or perhaps planning on attacking them. I attempted to reason, but was attacked, and defended myself."

"With lethal force. I saw the wounds." Defiant was still in a ready position.

"With wounds that would not have been permanently lethal on my world."

"Are you trying to say that there are capes that can resurrect the dead on your world?"

"No. I'm not a cape, and as far as I know there are no capes on my world. Just magic of various types. Sorcerers with moderate skill can heal a body and restore its soul, provided that the brain and spinal column are not damaged, and it is dead for less than a day."

"Another Myrddin then. I see." His voice was dismissive.

I slowly raised my left hand and flicked out my index finger. "No. I am not some deluded individual who confuses cape powers with magic. I do not have a corona pollentia. I checked." I straightened my middle left finger next to the index finger. "Before coming here, I'd never heard of Scion. I suspect the Enchantress of Dzur Mountain's shielding of our world to protect us from the Jeonine also protected us from him."

I slowly dropped my hand, and continued speaking. "The last thing I need is to develop some weird power that might interfere with witchcraft or my psionic relationships with my familiars."

 _Or Lady Teldra_ , I thought to myself. _She wouldn't care for that, I suspect._

"Unless you are a second generation cape, triggering is very rare, even if you have the corona pollentia." His tone reminded me of Daymar in lecture mode.

I stared at where his eyes would be behind the visor. "I didn't survive as long as I have, in the places I've been, without doing an awful lot of contingency planning. I've been wounded close to death on multiple occasions. Lung sucker punching me in the chest was a rather close call."

Defiant raised a finger. "One moment."

"Consult all you want. I'm telling you nothing but the truth."

"As fascinating as this is, none of it changes anything. Dragon says that everyone except the two of us, one of your reptiles, and Imp are now clear of the building."

 _So, Dragon is actively present and involved._

 _Better and better, boss._

 _And Imp is still hanging around._

 _She's a big girl, and experienced, Boss. She's got to have a good read on what might happen here._

I nodded. "I appreciate that you waited for everyone who lives here to be safe before you started whatever hard sell you came here for. You said that you wanted to put me into protective custody." Carefully, I took a swallow of klava while never taking my eyes off Defiant. "You do understand that I have responsibilities here."

"I have a responsibility to this city. If I don't get you out of the city, Lung will destroy large parts of the city to kill you or force you to leave. I could care less about your obligations to your criminal organization."

"So, protective custody really just means that you want me to leave the city, because you are afraid Lung will throw a hissy fit if I don't?" I took another careful swallow of klava as I stared at Defiant.

"Yes." He nodded. "It's also to save your life. He is a very experienced, powerful cape and almost killed you once. You admit that."

"Have you asked any precogs what the outcome of a second fight with Lung and I would be?" Defiant said nothing, so I continued. "Yes, I am confident you have. And so have I, through channels, at some expense."

It wasn't necessary to tell him that I knew what time of day Oracle and Dragon spoke, that the channels I used were scrying crystals attuned to Dinah's hair. The hair having been collected by Loiosh after Dinah brushed her hair in public and cleaned out the brush over a public trash can, and that I listened in at the cost of personal energy.

"I believe I know why it is that any questions about the outcome of a second fight between Lung and I don't give useful answers, but I'll keep that to myself." I gave him my best stony look. "Rest assured that I do know what the outcome of a second fight between Lung and I would be. Property damage will be kept to a minimum. The fight will end in less than a second after he attacks, with me standing over his cooling corpse."

"You claim to have been forced to kill Lung's henchmen-"

I broke in. "I was, but if Lung attacks me, he dies, because I know what he is now. I do not want to kill people, but when someone like Lung decides he wants to kill you, either he dies or you do. I'm very experienced with those sorts of relationships."

Defiant's voice was hard edged. He'd made up his mind. "That doesn't change anything. We don't want Lung dead, we don't want you dead. Most of all, we don't want lots of civilian deaths and swathes of the city destroyed by Lung when you two fight. Even if the precogs can't tell what the outcome of a fight between the two of you would be, they can tell that there is a ninety percent chance that you will engage each other in the next three months."

"And you are willing to use force to make me comply with this request?"

"Yes. Dragon and Valkyrie are both backing me up right now. We can't get a solid read on any fights you are involved in, but between Dragon and Valkyrie, there's no way you can win a fight, so don't try. Just come with me. We can set you up in another city, far from Lung. There are places in the world that are a lot worse than what you seem to be building here. Places that will actually appreciate you."

 _Valkyrie, Loiosh._

 _Check, boss._

 _Everyone is in position?_

 _Rozca says yes, again, boss._

 _Thank her for me._

 _Done. She says you owe her a cat._

"Defiant, one of the reasons why I've lived as long as I have is that I'm always thinking many moves in advance. When I was first dropped into your world, I was lost, but I'm not lost any more. Ignorant about a few things, but not about things that matter. I'm not going with you, and there will be no fight."

 _Now, Loiosh, Valkyrie first, then Defiant and the Dragon's Teeth. Hold off on Dragon._

There were several barely audible sounds from the kitchen, and Defiant suddenly collapsed to the floor with a yell. "I'm down. All systems."

I didn't stand, or make any threatening moves, because I really didn't want to deal with a Dragon who thought Defiant was in real danger. "All systems down, yes. That's why I asked you about the pacemaker earlier. I didn't want to accidentally kill you when I disabled all your electrical systems."

"What the hell power combination do you have?" He struggled to stand again on legs that mostly consisted of non-functional mechanical components, using arms that were also barely functional.

"You are too focused on powers. I don't have any. I just know things that this world's religions purged with witch hunting. Things that you have no defense against. And I'm a very good planner."

"Valkyrie, I could use some help here." Defiant spoke calmly.

"She's asleep right now. Sorry." I smiled.

Defiant stopped moving and despite his visor, it was obvious he was staring daggers at me. "If you've hurt her..."

"I haven't. Don't make threats when you don't know the situation. If I am not harmed or attacked, nobody gets hurt today." I set my klava cup on the table behind me, and put my right hand on Lady Teldra.

There was a thump on the patio behind me, the sliding glass door opened with a snap of the lock, and a female voice started to speak. "I do not know what you did to the others, but taking hostages is not going to work-"

"I know you have recon drones in the building, Dragon. There are no hostages. Defiant is free to leave, either assisted, or unassisted. He just threatened to attack me if I didn't allow him to forcibly relocate me to a different city. He was carrying a deadly weapon." I shrugged.

"And the Dragon's teeth? Their armor failed completely and they are now being tied up and bundled up into vans by your people."

Her voice sounded like it was annoyed, but I really wasn't so sure there was any real emotion there. The appropriate emotion should have been anger, either hot or cold. I guessed that she was bluffing, or preparing to bluff.

"They are being delivered unharmed and with all of their equipment intact to PRT headquarters by people who are related to people in my organization, but who have no criminal records."

I turned slowly to face Dragon's remote. It was a chrome and ivory colored android body shaped like a woman. "Feel free to monitor them as they are delivered. Special delivery, but not quite first class, I'm afraid. If you use the passcode 'Saint George', my people will release them to you directly, with no questions asked. I didn't want to leave them unprotected in the streets with nonfunctional armor. There are a lot of people around who wouldn't hesitate to scavenge armor, working or not."

"Tell your people to stop restraining them."

"I can't. Their actions are prearranged, and they are operating on radio and phone silence to keep you from interfering. That's why I gave you the passcode. You'll have to tell them the old fashioned way, the spoken word. Though they would probably accept writing too. We didn't cover that though, some of the more literal squad leaders might balk."

 _Even if any of them were able to hear me psionically, I'd still make you ask them._

Another chrome and ivory woman entered the apartment, lifted Defiant to his feet, and slowly backed out of the room, mostly carrying him.

"Before you think that you can try to force me to leave, I want to tell you a little bit about what I did."

There was no response until Defiant was gone and the sounds of departure faded, then Dragon's remote spoke again. "You can't expect that I don't understand what your passcode is meant to insinuate."

"I do not want to live up to that name, but I might, by accident, if you force my hand."

A chrome and ivory head tilted, and the voice seemed amused. "I don't think you understand what you're dealing with."

"No, I know exactly what I am dealing with. What I don't know is what will happen if I am forced to do to you what I did to Defiant and the Dragon's Teeth."

"You disabled their electronics, somehow. While uncommon, electrical control is not unheard of. And the range is seldom more than a block or so."

"What I did was use sympathetic witchcraft to put Valkyrie to sleep, and shut down Defiant's electrical systems as well as the Dragon's Teeth armor."

"Magic. You believe what you do is magic."

"I do not believe what I do is magic. I know it is. You were listening to my conversation with Defiant."

 _Boss. Right foot. Mechanical spider. Six inches from your big toe, at one o'clock. The chair back is blocking your line of sight._

 _Thanks Loiosh. Good eyes._

I was very glad that Loiosh had insisted that I sit in a place that he could see from where he was in control of the action figures.

Without moving my head to see it, I casually stomped on the spider with my right boot, feeling the crunch and pop. There was a hot spot under my boot.

I gripped Lady Teldra a bit tighter. "Let's not say anything about the possibility that you might have been trying to get an insect remote onto my body and inject me with something. It wouldn't have worked anyway."

Dragon stared at me motionless, for just a second, then turned her head towards where Loiosh was in the kitchen.

"If you harm my familiar, I will end you, Dragon." I hissed. "I didn't disable your drones here because I was afraid that the sympathetic magic might end your existence by accident. If you hurt Loiosh, I will utilize a more aggressive poppet."

Dragon's head turned back to me. "You are very confident that I would give you enough time to do that." Her body language relaxed.

 _Don't. Boss, don't relax. She's a machine. She's either testing you or trying to trick you._

"Stop trying to play mind games with me, Dragon. I read body language very well, but I know you can say whatever you want with your body."

"Fine. There seems to be a short delay between when Loiosh reacts to something, and you do. If the history of witchcraft on this world resembles what you claim to practice, you two are linked." Dragon's head swiveled back to Loiosh.

"No comment." My hand tightened on Lady Teldra. I didn't brag about how smart Loiosh was, at that point, because I was worried that it might make him a target. More of a target.

It was time to put Dragon's attention back on me. "I have a history that gives me reason to be confident. There are very few people who are as good as I am at staying alive while my enemies don't. Nobody on this world knows how witchcraft works but me. That means nobody knows how to protect themselves from it, and everyone leaves hair, skin, blood, and the occasional piece of electronic scrap all over the place after fights. I've been a very busy collector. I like to plan for the worst, to ensure the best."

Dragon's remote stared at me for about half a second, expressionless. "You realize this makes it even more imperative that we get you out of Brockton Bay? You've proven yourself to be powerful enough to take out Valkyrie, Defiant, and all twenty of Brockton Bay's Dragon's Teeth units simultaneously."

"And, I did it without killing anyone." I stared at her. "Yet."

"If we let you stay, Lung will come after you. Especially if he learns what you did today. He's like that. Right now he considers you an annoyance, not a challenge."

"Then Lung will die." I shrugged, but my eyes didn't leave Dragon's.

 _He needs to die anyway. You know he'll try to kill you._

 _Then it'll be on his head, Loiosh. These people seem a lot more willing to accept killing in self-defense than pre-emptive shining of people that we know will eventually try to kill us._

"Dragon, stop trying to get me to leave. Neither I, nor any of my people in the Pillars have killed or permanently maimed anyone since my first day in your world, and those deaths were in self-defense. How many people have the ABB killed or maimed in that time?"

"Two deaths, eleven emergency room visits." Dragon replied, instantly.

"And that's only what was reported." I pointed out.

Dragon sighed, and I tensed, instead of relaxing, but she didn't attack.

"You really do have excellent reflexes for a non-cape, comparable to a very low tier mover cape. Loiosh has reflexes that are better than most capes, almost as good as mine." She paused. "Your real name is Vlad, isn't it? That seems to be the most likely of the three names you've used for yourself, even though only Lung gave us that name, he said that you gave that name in a greeting."

"I won't answer to that name, it will confuse my people. They know me as Hannibal." I stared at her. "Stop testing me by changing the direction of conversation and watching my reactions."

Dragon laughed, and I knew I'd won.

Then she _moved._ One second she was standing several feet from me, and the next, she had her right hand on my right hand, preventing me from pulling Lady Teldra. Her left hand was holding my chin, gently, forcing me to look her in the eyes.

Loiosh screamed in my head and I felt him starting to activate the Dragon poppet.

 _Don't, Loiosh!_

I called her bluff. "You aren't a killer except for capes like the S9, but I will defend myself if you don't let me go. Don't force me to do something that might accidentally kill you."

Dragon whispered very softly, but clearly, and I shivered reflexively at the tone. "Don't make me regret letting you stay in Brockton Bay, and don't go after Lung unless he comes after you."

I reminded myself that Dragon wasn't a killer, managed to avoid making a wet spot in my seat, and kept my voice stable. "He already did, once."

"You killed his people, even if it was in self-defense, and don't seem to have been crippled." Her voice was iron as she released me, and stepped back. "Lung fought Scion. He deserves his second chance, though he's been getting closer and closer to crossing the line recently. Life is apparently a more precious commodity here than it is in your old world, even Lung's."

"I learned years ago that life is very precious, but some people can lose the right to keep it."

"You don't have the right to make life and death decisions. We have courts for that here."

I raised an eyebrow. "A court couldn't save Jasmine Henry. I did."

Dragon's head tilted slightly. I reminded myself that her reactions were for my benefit, or hers, not natural. "Don't think you can buy a free pass to kill people by using what you call magic to save other people."

Nodding, I responded. "I understood that by the second day after I arrived."

Dragon turned to look into the kitchen where Loiosh was sitting next to the action figures. "How long will the debilitating effects last?"

"About another fifteen minutes. I didn't put much energy into them." I knew I'd made a mistake as soon as the words of the second sentence left my mouth.

"That's the first lie I've caught you in. You put a lot of energy into them." Dragon looked back at me.

I shrugged. It only made sense that Dragon would have a lie detector like Defiant's. "Nobody's perfect."

Dragon turned back toward the kitchen.

I tensed.

Loiosh was holding a modified Optimus Prime transformer action figure in one claw, with his mouth on the activation pull string.

"Don't be nervous, I'm just curious what you used for poppets, and I probably can't beat Loiosh's reflexes if I threaten him." She paused, and there was humor in her voice. "I see that I'm Optimus Prime."

 _It's fake, boss._

"Don't get any closer to Loiosh, Dragon. One warning."

 _If she moves any closer to you, activate the poppet, Loiosh._

 _It's all I can do not to pull the trigger string now._

Dragon nodded and then took a slow step back, continuing to scan the countertop.

"Defiant is the Six Million Dollar Man doll. I'll have to tease him about that. Valkyrie is clearly the Lady Sif doll." The chuckle sounded real enough to have me doubt that it was for my benefit.

"The magic works better if I mentally associate the poppet with the target."

"I'm going to have to speak with Captain Connors then. He's not going to be pleased that you associated his Dragon's Teeth with Storm Troopers." She paused. "Wait. Which movies?"

"The ones where they were competent." I replied, telling the truth.

"Better. I see that you had a poppet for every active Warden in Brockton Bay on the counter, as well as me."

I didn't say anything, afraid that I might somehow draw her attention to the glass fronted display case full of other action figures.

As she turned and walked back out of the kitchen, Dragon turned to face the display case. "Nice collection." Then she walked out the sliding glass door, jumped off the balcony, and flew off.

I walked back to the panel of evacuation buttons and turned off the alarm.

"You're-"

I spun on my heel and lunged to my left as I twisted my wrist in just the right way to drop a spring loaded dirk into my rapidly raising and extending left palm.

There was a young black woman standing at the end of my dirk, staring cross-eyed at the little dot of blood bridging the gap between the tip of her nose and the tip of my dirk.

"Very dangerous when surprised." I finished for her. "The only reason you aren't dead right now is that I'm used to someone I can't see surprising me. I had to learn not to kill him. Next time, surprise me from farther away."


	8. Chapter 7

Imp's eyes uncrossed and met mine, but she didn't move. "You seem to have just lost a couple very important secrets."

I was both impressed and surprised that Imp didn't immediately disappear when I lunged and only barely held back from putting a hole in her. My research had indicated that invisibility was her normal state, that she became visible only when she concentrated. Her preferred weapon was a knife. She knew how close she'd just come to being skewered, and still stayed calm enough to keep concentrating on staying visible.

\- No, that's not just me being nice. Flattery can't get me anywhere that Cawti wouldn't kill me for.

Anyway, Imp was right. "Yes, a couple secrets and a lot of privacy. I'm sure that Dragon is now going to be Big Brothering me, and I suspect that you'll be hanging around a fair bit as well."

"Dragon is right about Lung, you know."

I nodded and retracted my arm, keeping the dirk ready, but not in her face. "I'm right about Lung as well."

She took a slow step back. "You really think you can kill him? I've stabbed him a couple times. Even when he's asleep, he's hard to hurt and regenerates absurdly fast."

 _Boss, don't brag and blow Lady Teldra's cover._

 _Don't worry, Loiosh, I'm not blowing that secret unless it's life or death._

"Underconfidence is just as deadly as overconfidence. I know what I can do. I know what every known cape that spends any time in the surrounding areas can do. If Lung comes after me, he won't survive the fight."

"You're awful confident-"

I turned my back to her and watched her in the plate glass door of the balcony as I quickly re-loaded my dirk in its sheath, being careful not to accidentally release the dart in the sheath next to it. or allow Imp to see what I was doing in the reflection. I didn't like other people seeing exactly where I hid my hardware.

"Imp, I am an ex-assassin. One of the best on my world. I'm also one of the most hunted people on my world, and have killed more assassins sent after me than I care to think about."

Imp's eyes tracked to the mirror. She saw that I was watching her.

I turned around again, took two steps away from her, and spun on one foot to straddle my chair like a horse, leaving myself in the same seated position I'd used for my conversation with Defiant.

"That seems to be a little different from the story you told Dragon."

"Not at all. I'm an ex-assassin. I have been forced to maintain the skills of the trade to stay alive. I'm older, and value life more."

"Vlad, Voodoo Assassin." Imp scratched her jaw. "I could see that as a serial show on TV, but a lot of people would expect you to also be a vampire because of the name."

"I know a vampire. She's nicer than a lot of other people I've dealt with. Some of which would make Vlad the Impaler seem like Mr. Rogers, though most of those are now dead."

 _Boss, where is this conversation going?_

 _I'm not sure, Loiosh. Imp is-_

 _A pretty young woman-_

 _That's not-_

 _Who was and perhaps still is an assassin-_

 _Stop it, Loiosh-_

 _And can't be seen unless she wants to be seen. Great attribute for a mistress._

 _Loiosh, stop putting those thoughts in my head._

 _They aren't coming from my head, boss._

I took a deep breath.

 _You're right. Thank you, Loiosh._

 _Being right is my job._

 _Don't take it too far._

I noticed that the smartphone on Imp's belt was turned so that the camera lens was towards me, instead of to the side, over her hip, like most people wore them.

I waved at the smartphone. "Hello, Tattletale."

Imp moved her hand slightly, protectively, towards the smartphone.

"He knows I'm watching, Imp." A female voice I'd heard while scrying came from the phone.

"Makes sense. I'm sure you saw most, if not all of my conversations with Defiant and Dragon."

Tattletale continued after a pause. "And he thinks you're sexy, but won't act on it. Don't try."

Imp shrugged, and didn't seem too disappointed. "It never works out anyway."

"Well, now that you've proved your identity by ruining a moment that wasn't going anywhere anyway, Tattletale, I'm guessing that you still want to meet, despite today's events."

"I want to meet because of today's events."

I didn't miss Imp's expression growing harder, but ignored it. She was mixing business with friendship. It was a terrible thing to do, but I'd done it myself. I'd even taken it one step farther and mixed business with marriage.

I considered Tattletale's phrasing. "You think Lung is going to act rapidly?"

"There were certainly ABB members watching your headquarters building and the surrounding areas. They would have seen Defiant entering, and leaving being carried by Dragon. They would have seen twenty Dragon's Teeth collapse and get bundled into vehicles."

"Lung doesn't know enough about me or what I'm doing-"

"Wrong. Lung is very action-based. He also normally keeps his word, if you can get him to give it. He gave Defiant two days to get you out of town or arrested. By this time tomorrow, he will attack you."

"Still, I know for a fact that he doesn't know enough about me to plan-"

Tattletale interrupted. "Vlad, he doesn't need to. Your old world apparently had social rules about how to kill people. Lung won't follow those rules. If he can't find you, he'll attack your people, and force you to either abandon them, or face him."

I snapped my mouth shut. What she was saying made sense, I just hadn't thought to consider it. I had spent a great deal of time puzzling out how the lawful elements would react to different crimes, but had assumed I understood how the criminal element would act when committing those crimes. Especially killings. I allowed my expertise to blind me. Collateral damage to friends, family, loved ones was par for the course here in organizational warfare. In fact it was part of how things routinely worked. I'd seen it, but failed to account for it.

 _Another oversight, Loiosh. A serious one._ I growled, to myself.

Loiosh was silent, but not apologetic. Thinking about how other humans would react wasn't his job, it was all on me, and I'd nearly blown it. Lung wouldn't try to sneak up on me and catch me by surprise, he'd come in like a Dragon, not a Jhereg.

 _They are crossing everything up on me here, Loiosh. Crime bosses that act like Dragons or Dzur instead of Jhereg._

 _Nobody died, boss._

 _Yeah, but-_

 _Nobody died, boss._ Loiosh pushed into my mind, more forcefully.

 _I don't like making mistakes._

 _That's your job._

I couldn't help it, my mouth quirked a little _. Oh, I see now. It's my job to make mistakes, and your job to be right?_

 _Amazing how that balances out, isn't it?_

I didn't give him the dignity of a response. He wasn't expecting a dignified response.

"I see." I spoke aloud, after Loiosh and I had taken a couple seconds to confer.

Tattletale's voice responded, sounding confident. "Yes, you do. So does your reptile companion."

 _Wait. She's reading me too? She can do that?_

 _Apparently, or she's a really good guesser._

 _Right, Boss._

Several things started falling into place. "This was planned."

"For the most part, yes."

"But Defiant didn't know."

"He couldn't have fooled you if he did."

"So Dragon's been watching me for how long?"

"I don't know, exactly. At least a month." There was a shrug in Tattletale's voice.

 _I considered Dragon my biggest potential threat, and I still discover that I underestimated her._

 _She must have been using very long range remotes, boss._

 _Or remotes hidden behind walls or inside objects that you wouldn't spot as fakes._

 _So, why the fly?_

 _Defiant, probably, using the remote to find us in the building._

"I don't much care to dance to other people's tunes, Tattletale."

"Nobody does, but we all do, at some point."

"Is anything stopping me from simply packing up a few things and leaving the city?"

"Nope. If you want to do that, feel free. I think it would be a mistake though. You also said earlier that you wouldn't, and even disabled Defiant because he wouldn't let you refuse peacefully."

I had to agree with her. It would have felt like a failure to leave. I'd be abandoning people who lived there to the ABB because the Undersiders couldn't manage to protect themselves.

 _Dragon would probably keep watching you anyway._

 _You support this, Loiosh?_

 _We don't really know what 'this' is._

The idea of having been watched for a month was troublesome _. If Dragon has been watching us for a month, then she knows we've been watching all the local heroes. This is getting steadily worse. Everything we've learned has been fed to us._

 _It all made sense. I think they just fed us little bits of misinformation, or we would have noticed it._

 _Like Dinah not being able to see what would happen if I drew Lady Teldra._

 _Exactly, Boss, but that felt real. Would Dragon have sent Defiant in alone if she knew what Lady Teldra could do if Defiant managed to seriously threaten us?_

 _Good point. Still, we've been outmaneuvered badly, and we don't know how badly._

 _It's not the first time. Remember when the Sorceress-_

 _Shut up, Loiosh._

 _And then, when Aliera-_

 _I get it, Loiosh._

 _And then there was when-_

I stopped listening to Loiosh and replied to Tattletale. "So, we've been herded. To what purpose?"

"Is it too much for you to be able to deal with us directly now?"

"Five years ago, it would have been."

"There was a fifteen percent chance you would turn your back on us today, too." The voice from the phone sounded relieved.

Imp broke in. "Tattletale, why wasn't I told that you were working with Dragon on this?"

"For the same reason Defiant wasn't told."

"That doesn't make sense. He can't see me unless I want him to."

"I also wanted to be sure I wasn't being played by Dragon in a deeper game."

Imp fingered her phone, thoughtfully. "You owe me one, Tattletale."

"I agree, we'll discuss it later."

I smiled at the camera. "I think I understand now why it is that the Undersiders are having border control issues."

Imp went silent and a little tense, hand on her phone, a cautious expression on her face.

"Go on?" Tattletale's voice.

"Seems as if the Undersiders leader has her attention too far off the street, playing bigger games."

"Playing at street level has never been of much interest to me. I inherited this job."

"From Skitter, yes. From what I've heard and read about her, we would have agreed on a lot of things."

"And that's why I want to meet with you, and possibly offer you a place in the Undersiders. We can make you faceless, quietly absorb your people into our organization, and pretend that we are learning from your Lieutenants and not you."

"Possibly?"

"You need to meet with the other area leaders before we do more than talk. I'm not bringing in a new cape, even if you aren't a cape, without letting the others meet you. If more than one of the area leaders can't deal with you, then we won't bring you in. I'll still try to figure out a different way to arrange for some trading between our organizations."

"When, and where?"

"Tonight at eleven PM. I've rented Corky's Steakhouse for an after-hours dinner. I understand you're something of a foodie, and they have prime rib that melts in your mouth."

The restaurant was familiar to me, but I didn't much care for how public the eating area was, so I hadn't gone there. "I've been meaning to put pressure on them to send me a meal. They have insisted that they don't cater or do deliveries."

"They will cater but it's ruinously expensive, and you have to set it up with the owner, not the management." She paused. "I don't believe you have any capes in your organization, but you can bring up to four people with you. If they are capes, I need to know who they are."

"I'll come with my familiars, and weapons, nobody else from my organization."

Imp stiffened "Tattletale, the last time-"

The voice from the phone grew more crisp and authoritative. "Remember that conversation we had, Imp, about the brainy one not telling the sneaky one how to sneak? It works the other way around, too. I've got this. Vlad has no interest in doing us any harm if we don't offer him a threat first. The incident you are thinking about happened in much less controlled circumstances, and I didn't exactly get to speak with Jack before the meeting. "

Since I was being talked about, and not to, I picked up my cold cup of klava from the table and took a sip. It was terrible, but wet. "I'll be there. Is there anything else we need to talk about?"

"No, that's all. Imp, please return to HQ. We need to discuss some other business."

Imp took the phone off her belt and spoke into it. "We also need to discuss this business. I'll stay long enough that Vlad shouldn't forget anything important."

A small handwritten business card dropped on the floor where I was facing, staring at the wall for some reason. Loiosh brought it to me.

"Corky's Steakhouse at 11 PM tonight. You should remember the rest, or be able to figure it out."

Most of the conversation was still in my mind, but I'd apparently lost the last thirty seconds or so.

 _We're going to have to compartmentalize harder in the future, Loiosh. No technology in working areas._

 _That's going to be hard, boss. Tinker technology is so weird even the tinkers don't understand it. Then there are people with thinker powers._

I put down the cold cup of klava, and started rubbing my temples to try and keep the headache under control.

 _Boss, we knew what Dragon could do. We just didn't know she was already doing it._

 _For a month. When did she start? How much of what we think we know is false or shaded?_

Loiosh sent me an unhappy psionic shrug.

 _Outmaneuvering is supposed to be what I do to other people, Loiosh._


	9. Chapter 8

_That went better than I thought it would._ I sent to Loiosh, psionically.

 _True. Nobody tried to kill us._ My familiar responded.

I shook my head. _It's so weird living in a world where death is always permanent._

The last of my lieutenants left the office. None of them were happy. None of them were rebellious either. I'd intentionally chosen competent people who wanted to make a difference, but didn't want leadership positions at first. It took time to convince them that they were, in fact, exactly what I wanted for leadership. They might eventually turn on me, but not without good reason, and not spontaneously.

I picked up a letter opener from my desk, pushed my chair back, and put my boots on the table.

 _The anti-electrical field idea isn't a good idea, boss._

My fingernails weren't dirty, but I needed to think, so I absently cleaned them with the letter opener as Loiosh and I conversed.

 _Why? Wouldn't it allow us to create an anti-Dragon field without risking killing her?_

 _I went to the sufficient velocity forums and floated the idea in the power discussions section. Someone mentioned that a field where electrical activity was completely suppressed would kill anyone in it. Our brains and nerves need electricity or we'll die._

 _Oh._

 _Others said that the Manton Effect would prevent that, but…_

 _Witchcraft doesn't respect the Manton effect. I know._

I frowned and stared at the target on the wall that had suddenly sprouted a letter opener.

 _Is there no way we can keep her from spying on us?_

 _Maybe a phoenix stone.  
_  
I suppressed my irritation. _You know they don't exist here, Loiosh._

 _Can we make one?  
_  
I took my boots off the desk and sat up straight in the chair. _Maybe. If I knew how. From what little I know about how they work, I think we'd have to harness raw chaos and channel it into a ruby. Somehow._

 _That's a no then? Or do you think we can control raw chaos with energy drinks?_

 _Yes, that's a no. I doubt Verra wants me to turn this planet into a big ball of raw chaos. We'd die if it didn't work._

No. I wasn't kidding. Raw chaos was something I'd summoned in desperation, once, to save my life. If Aliera hadn't detected the raw chaos and immediately come to investigate, I would have died.

No. Well, yes. The sorceress that paralyzed me with a spell might have killed me, but she was busy trying to keep Loiosh from biting her. The chaos itself would have killed me. Physically manifested chaos turns everything it touches into liquid chaos. Nothing can contain or control it, other than psionic energy or elder sorcery.

Aliera can control it. She's been studying it for longer than my family can trace our history. Dragareans can live for thousands of years. She has literally spent more time actively studying chaos than I've been alive.

School's over. Back to the story.

 _I really don't like Dragon being able to see everything I do. There's got to be a way…_

 _Boss. I know what you're thinking. Seriously bad idea._

I stared at Loiosh. _Do you really think Teacher could control my mind if he gave us a power like Imp's that would work on electronics?_

 _You don't have the brain-thing that capes have, but I don't think taking the risk would be smart. If he can control you, he might also be able to control me, maybe even Rozca._

I could feel the stubbornness in Loiosh's mind.

 _It was only an idea, Loiosh. I'm not seriously thinking about it._

 _Good. I would have killed him if you tried it._

 _He uses precogs._ I pointed out. _Hell, he can create precogs._

 _So he won't do it. Either I would kill him, or you would kill him for killing me, and he'd know it._

 _Unless he could-_

Loiosh snapped a response into my mind with an irritated mental flourish before I could finish my thought. _If he uses precogs and agrees, then we know he can kill or control me and keep you from killing him, because I_ _ **will**_ _try to kill him if you insist on this._

My familiar and I stared at each other, testing each other's minds. It was very rare for Loiosh to be so hard-edged in opposition with me, but there was absolutely no doubt in my mind or his that he would do exactly what he had threatened.

 _Fine. A Teacher power is off the table. Lady Teldra would probably 'heal' me and remove whatever Teacher put gave me the first time I unsheathed her, anyway._

 _Or abandon you because your mind changed, and she didn't think you were you any longer._

I froze and put my hand on her hilt. I hadn't considered that. A sleepy mental thread briefly touched my mind, then went back to sleep.

 _The sense of smugness over my shared mental connection to Loiosh was so intense, I couldn't help but smile._

 _Stop being so damn insufferable._

I stood and walked to the target on the wall and removed the letter opener, turning back to my desk and absently tossing the tool. It flipped end over end in a shallow arc before embedding itself in a half-inch diameter white spot next to the ceramic klava cup that stored my pens and pencils.

Out loud, I complained barely audibly. "I wish everything was as simple as knives."

 _No, you don't._

 _Fine. I'm lying to myself because I can't figure out how to hide my activities from Dragon without killing her._

 _One thing at a time, boss. Undersiders meeting tonight._

My mouth twitched into a little bit of a smile.

 _That, I'm ready for._

 _Remember, Parian is the primary target if the meeting goes into the crapper. Can't have her binding me with my own clothing or fabric from the environment and keeping me from pulling Lady Teldra._

 _Rozca's on it, Boss._

 _Make sure she's very careful. Foil is amazingly fast and accurate, even though she's clearly had minimal training. She'll protect Parian before she attacks me, if I'm not Parian's attacker._

 _You think._

 _I know. She's physically dominant and protective. It's clear in her body language in every picture and video of the two of them together._

 _They'll act as a team, Boss._

 _Foil won't let Parian get hurt if she can help it. There's a serious bond there. That should allow me to take down Foil while she's distracted._

 _What about the rest?_

 _If they force me to pull Lady Teldra, only Parian is a real threat._

 _Bitch's dogs?_

 _I've read aout her fights, and seen footage of her fighting. Bitch has rarely ever fought anyone who actually took the fight to her. I have darts and she doesn't wear armor. If she goes down, I suspect the dogs will too. If not, then there's a problem._

 _Imp and Tattletale?_

 _Tattletale carries a gun, but is a normal person physically. She had a very bad experience with Jack Slash and will be tempted to run from me in a melee. With Lady Teldra out, I doubt she'll be able to stand her ground, never mind fight._

I patted the right inner pockets of my grey duster to make sure the Cheshire Cat plushie and Optimus Prime action figure were still in the correct pockets.

 _Dragon and Imp are after Parian and Foil if everything goes to hell._

 _Boss, Dragon knows every single thing we've done to prepare ourselves, almost certainly._

 _There's that. But nobody other than us knows what Lady Teldra can do._

 _She held your hand to make sure you couldn't draw-_

I interrupted Loiosh. _That only proves it. Dragon is a machine. Lady Teldra can probably damage her, but Dragon probably has no soul to be consumed. She held my hand because she knew Lady Teldra was the weapon I would have pulled, and she was proving her dominance, not because she knew what Lady Teldra was._

 _They have precogs, boss. Dinah and at least one of Valkyrie's ghosts._

 _So they know we don't want a fight, and should know how to avoid starting one._

 _Or they could figure out a way to take us out with no risk. Odorless gas. Shaped charge explosions through a summoned portal. Sniper bullet._

 _They don't want us dead. If they did, we'd be dead._

 _Boss, I can think of lots of ways that it might be worse to be caught alive than just killed._

 _They don't want-_

Loiosh cut me off. _You don't know how these people think. Not really. All your social skills are still slightly off here, especially where capes are concerned._

 _But I can see what they do, and the results of what they have done in the past. That tells me how they solve problems._

 _Valkyrie used to kill capes to steal their powers, and you sucker-punched her earlier today._

 _I don't have powers, and Valkyrie can detect that, I'm pretty sure. She hasn't been adding to her dead cape collection either, recently._

 _That you know of. If you are so sure they aren't going to-_

I scratched Loiosh's head. _It's part of the message. I'm not going to them as a supplicant. I'm certainly not going anywhere without Lady Teldra. The other weapons and poppets are just window dressing, and camouflage. Going in looking too smart might irk Tattletale. She's very sensitive to not being the smartest person in the room - especially if there are witnesses._

 _And the plans? Why plan for a possible fight if you know we're not going to fight?_

I scratched Loiosh's head, then Rozca's when she broadcast a brief irritation at me and bumped my hand with her head for attention. _Loiosh, what will probably happen the first time we aren't ready for a fight?_

I stood, walked around my desk, and walked out the door of the office, waving to Keith as I passed.

 _You mean the second time. The first time, Verra cornered you in a bathroom and threw you here-_

Loiosh had a brief mental hiccup.

 _Verra doesn't count. You don't plan to fight gods. Still, I'd rather have a plan and not need it than need a plan and not have one._

As I left the building, with Loiosh and Rozca scouting for me, I slid my fingers over the hilt in my left underarm sheath and thought about what Verra had done to me.

I felt a brief, wordless psionic connection. Lady Teldra, who had not yet earned her prophesied name, 'Godkiller,' seemed to purr in my mind as I whispered out loud. "Not yet, anyway."


	10. Chapter 9

I stopped scrying and snapped the compact mirror closed. As backwards as this world was in magic, their physical tools were nothing short of amazing. A tiny, concave mirror that perfect would have cost me a poor family's yearly food budget back home. More than it would cost to revivify someone, several times over. Here, it cost less than a cheap lunch.

Shaking my head, I returned my thoughts to the business at hand _. Looks like everyone's there except us, Loiosh. All the seats are taken except one, with three place settings._

 _So, Bitch did show up after all?_

I stepped to the end of the alley and looked both ways. I was in Pillars colors, and not trying to hide, but it was always a good idea to see everything around you. There weren't a whole lot of people on this world that wanted to kill me, but it only takes one. Loiosh and Rozca were also scouting the area, but had nothing to report.

 _No big surprise, really. She and Tattletale trade favors. Bitch is a good counter for most low tier physical power capes._

 _Which you aren't._

 _True, but what was that expression again? 'Make a round peg fit in a square hole?" Tattletale is planning as best as she can to be both civil, and prepared for a fight._

 _With Dragon as an advisor. Are you absolutely sure you want to do this, boss?_

 _No. But I don't have any better options._

I shook, opened, and drank three energy drinks in fast succession.

 _Destroy Dragon, kill Lung, use poppets to put other capes in comas, and deal with them one at a time from a position of strength?_

 _First, there are thousands of capes, and we've only collected materials to make poppets for local ones, or capes known to come here regularly. Second, if you keep thinking like that, Loiosh, this meeting will go very poorly. Tattletale can read-_

 _Everyone thinks like this, Boss, deep down inside. I know you do, because I have a front row seat. If Tattletale can't differentiate between frustrated musings and real intent, she'd be a paranoid nutcase by now. Capes are aggressive._

 _So, now you're an expert on how everyone else thinks, as well as how I think?_

 _No, I've been reading-_

I interrupted my familiar. _On the internet? Haven't we learned in some rather embarrassing situations that not everything on the internet is true?_

Loiosh replied with indignance. _Wikipedia is very accurate. On topics backed up by facts, at least. Quite a few experts monitor most of the hard science and data entries._

 _How confident are you of that?_

 _Very._ The tone of Loiosh's mental voice was strong with conviction.

 _So, you don't think Tattletale can see evidence of musings that we don't plan to act on?_

 _She probably sees them, but recognizes them as passing thoughts. If we were to think about acting on them-_

 _I get it. Same thing for us. If we act precipitously, we'll be fighting the first time we see Foil pick up a dinner knife. Tattletale just has an extra sense that we don't have._

I filed that away, mentally. Loiosh's tidbit of intelligence wouldn't change our plans, but made mayhem seem a little less likely.

 _In any case, I don't want to resort to killing people._

 _Except Lung._

 _That's a given. We know he's eventually going to come looking for us._

I stepped across the street during a break in traffic, walking quickly, but not fast enough to draw the eye.

 _And Dragon won't let us go after him first._ I could feel Loiosh's anger about Dragon's interference.

Then Loiosh took a strange turn of thought. _He didn't turn on Weaver when he had the chance._

 _Weaver never lost a fight, despite some ridiculous longshot odds, including beating Lung twice, and killing Alexandria. Even Lung was willing to follow her lead when fighting Scion. It was one of those situations where you follow the one you hope can figure out a way to win. That's why I know Lung isn't as weak-minded as a lot of people think._

My thoughts chased down an interesting path. _From what I've read and heard, Weaver and Morrolan would have gotten along._

 _I'd love to watch her fight for entry into House Dzur, myself. She'd make it in. With bugs. Can you imagine the chaos?_

Shaking my head, I redirected the conversation. _Lung knows he beat us once, and we beat a few powerful capes and some Dragon's Teeth on our own turf. He'll be cautious, but he'll come for us._

 _Why? This isn't even the original Brockton Bay for most of the people here, Boss._

 _It seems close enough for everyone else. Why would Lung be different?_ I approached the front doors of the restaurant, which had a sign declaring that the place was fully reserved for the evening and would re-open tomorrow. I clapped for entry, then shook my head minutely in irritation at myself before knocking.

As I waited for the door to be answered, I watched the people moving on the street near me. From what I had learned, the place had been a ghost town before Earth Bet explorers had found it, set up teleporters, and started moving people in.

 _So many people dead. Trillions killed by an insane god._

Thinking about the vast destruction wrought by Scion, I had a happy thought. _Maybe he found the Jenoine homeworld and razed it?_

 _We probably won't be so lucky._

 _It might explain why Verra felt she could send us here._

 _Too much guesswork built on what we hope but don't know._

 _Spoilsport._

Loiosh snorted in my mind _. You're going to drive Cawti to distraction with all these new words and phrases that she won't have any references for._

The door finally opened, and a serious-looking middle-aged man in black slacks, a white shirt, and a bow tie looked out at us with a frown, probably recognizing Pillars colors.

"I am expected. Hannibal, and my two companions."

Loiosh and Rozca landed on my shoulders with a sudden flutter of bat-like wings. To his credit, the man only flinched a little bit before he opened the door and held it to allow me to enter. Loiosh watched the man as I passed him.

My back only itched a little bit as I heard the door close and lock behind me.

"Your party is the only group here tonight, sir. Sharon will assist you."

A short young woman with a huge bun of black hair stepped into view from the coat room, and the man walked past her before turning right and going down an employee access hallway.

"May I take your coat, sir?"

I stared at her for a second before realizing that I wasn't in the Empire, and wasn't wearing Jhereg colors. Sharon wouldn't understand that there were fourteen weapons sheathed or otherwise stored in the customized coat. "No, thank you. I would prefer to wear it."

She looked at me oddly for a moment, then shrugged minutely and started to turn away. "Follow me to your party's table, sir."

I nodded, and said nothing as I followed her, trying to prepare myself mentally for the meeting. The delicious smells of beef, spices, and coffee were redolent in the air, making me glad I'd eaten a light lunch.

As we entered the main dining area, Sharon made a shallow bow and waved one arm towards the center of the room. "A waiter will assist you after you are seated, sir."

I moved across the room and saw again what I had seen when scrying. Four tables pushed together to make one very large table in the center of the room. The rest of the tables that had been in the room were absent.

At the table, there was nearly ten feet between the one empty seat with three place settings, and the five occupied chairs. Imp was choosing to be visible.

Their conversations stopped and they all turned to face me.

I spoke first. "Good afternoon, everyone."

The first one to speak after me was the woman with two dogs sitting behind her, watching us closely. "This is him? Doesn't look like much." Bitch being Bitch. I held my tongue.

"He survived a fight with Lung, and later took out Defiant, Valkyrie, and twenty Dragon's Teeth in ten seconds without permanently harming any of them." Tattletale interjected smoothly, with a glance at me, and then at Bitch.

Bitch shrugged. "You wanted to hear what I thought of him."

Parian face-palmed, and Foil grinned at me with a little shake of her head. Imp said nothing, but was watching me carefully.

Tattletale turned to Bitch and met her eyes, responding calmly. "I did. I would prefer to hear it later though, when he's not here. After you've spent some time around him."

Bitch and Tattletale stared at one another for a second, and then Bitch shrugged. "Sure. Whatever. Not sure it matters since Dragon said he can see what you are doing whenever he wants."

Both of Bitch's canines were tracking me with their heads as I crossed the room to my seat. Loiosh and Rozca were staring back.

 _Boss, that wolf looks tasty. If we get in a fight, will you cook it for us after?_

 _Shut up, Loiosh. Don't distract me._

I carefully seated myself, a bit farther from the table than I would prefer for eating, giving myself room to clear any of my weapons immediately. Loiosh hopped to the table between me and Bitch on my right, and Rozca between me and Foil on my left.

Tattletale was directly across from me, with Imp between her and Bitch, and Parian between her and Foil.

I did not miss the fact that Tattletale was watching me carefully out of the corner of her eye as I watched her interaction with Bitch.

It was obviously a test, whether planned or not. I met Bitch's eyes and held them. "I'll take that as a compliment, Bitch. Not looking like much helped keep me alive while I was an assassin, and was even more valuable after I stopped being an assassin. Being underestimated is a good thing."

I held Bitch's eyes only long enough to make sure she knew I wasn't afraid of her, but not long enough that she'd see it as a challenge.

Bitch didn't try to stare me down, allowing our gazes to drift apart with a thoughtful expression.

The waiter approached me, clearly nervous, but still professional. "Would you like a drink list, sir?"

"Water to start. Do you have a cellar snob working tonight?"

The waiter's eyes opened slightly, but he nodded. "The cellar master is here, though our selection is not what it once was."

"I'll take that as a yes, then. Tell them to select what they would drink with a medium rare cut. Nothing more potent than wine."

The waiter nodded and retreated from the table with a "Yes, sir."

Tattletale's eyes shifted between Bitch and I, then scanned the others, before returning to me. "Twenty-three weapons on you, right now. That seems a bit excessive."

I did a mental tally of my weapons, and came up short of Tattletale's count by one.

Suddenly, Loiosh and Rozca's wings flared before locking in place between me and Tattletale.

There were several small noises. Chairs adjusting slightly on the floor, and barely audible canine whining.

"Clever." Tattletale's voice was calm. "Using the reptiles to hide your expressions from me."

"It was not intended to be a surprise. I didn't expect to need it so soon, my train of thought ran into an area that I'd rather keep private, and they reacted as I requested them to. Give me a moment to clear my thoughts."

 _Imp disappeared, Boss._ Loiosh complained, clearly stressing out over the fact.

"I'd appreciate it if Imp would return to visibility again." I asked, politely.

"Imp, the reptiles are getting very upset with you being invisible."

Imp's voice came from my right side, from an angle that allowed her to see me. "If he takes his hands out of his jacket sleeves, and the reptiles drop their wings so you can see his intent, I'll go back to my seat." She remained visible, watching me.

I let go of both throwing knife hilts after a little twist to lock them back in their sheathes, then placed my hands on the table and cleared my thoughts, invoking a little power to focus myself on the conversation, as opposed to… whatever it was that Tattletale had just asked me.

Loiosh and Rozca lowered their wings.

Tattletale was staring at Loiosh. "This meeting will probably be a lot more productive if your reptiles-"

I interrupted. "Jhereg. That's what they are. They aren't really reptiles like reptiles from this Earth."

Tattletale gave me a sharp look. "Jhereg then. I would appreciate it if the two of them would stop discussing how tasty I look."

 _Loiosh._

 _You said for us to think distracting thoughts, boss. We can't just think about nothing when you start thinking about things you don't want Tattletale to know about._

 _Can you think other distracting thoughts?_

 _Fine. She gets to see us recalling memories of mating next time we have to shield you._

 _Just keep me out of it._

"Apologies. They are pure carnivores. I asked them to have a different distracting conversation the next time they try to protect my thoughts from prying eyes."

Tattletale shifted slightly in her seat and started to speak as Imp returned to the chair next to her. "We haven't taken on a new member in quite a while. Tell us what you would bring to this organization."

"Experience running a successful criminal organization in a competitive environment."

"We have that already." Foil interjected smoothly.

"You have been losing territory to the ABB since Lung arrived." I reminded her. "You have experience successfully running an unopposed criminal organization." I slowly held up one hand. "That's not a bad thing. It's not easy running any organization that gets things done, and you did get things done. But you were running a government more than a criminal organization."

Parian made a motion with her fingers to get my attention and started to speak. "Maybe that was our intent. To operate as a government, as opposed to organized crime?"

"If you wanted to do that, I am absolutely certain Dragon could have helped you integrate into the exiting government a lot more smoothly." I twirled my right index finger in the air, indicating our invisible likely-listener. "From what I've been picking up, a very large part of her capabilities have been used for establishing stable governments post-Scion."

"Is there really much of a difference between a government and a criminal organization?"

I turned to the person asking the question. Imp. A little surprising. I hadn't been expecting her to engage in the intellectual part of the discussion.

\- Ow. Don't hit me. It's only the truth. I know you better now. It was extremely hard to get reliable data about you back then, and you had a reputation for being fairly shallow.

"Yes. By definition, an organization can't be criminal unless it is violating laws. Laws are created by governments."

Imp put her elbows on the table and cradled her chin on her fists, staring at me thoughtfully.

Tattletale looked around the room again, before speaking. "We have rules. You have rules in the Pillars. Why doesn't that make us governments?"

"We both generate income by breaking rules. Governments generates income by enforcing rules. Taxes, penalties, and licensing fees, for example."

"No government where I live." Bitch stared at me flatly, challenging me.

"You moved your people to a dimension with no humans, so no government. True. But from what I've been able to learn, you make the rules for your people, and enforce them. That means you are the government. Anyone who violates your rules are criminals, your majesty." I smiled at her, carefully not showing my teeth.

Bitch looked puzzled for just a second, her eyebrows raised slightly, and she leaned back in her chair while rubbing her chin.

"You seem to have given a lot of thought to the differences between governments and criminal organizations." Tattletale prompted after a couple seconds.

"I have. It's one reason why a lot of people want me dead where I come from. The criminal organization I came from becomes the government every few thousand years. When they do, there is chaos, because they don't know how to be a government."

"What?" Tattletale seemed annoyed.

"It's the Cycle. A rotating monarchy of sorts. Every House has an heir presumptive, and the Houses take power in a specific order defined by the Cycle. When the current emperor or empress dies, the next House in the Cycle places their heir on the throne."

\- Blah blah blah. We ate a quite excellent meal and talked a lot more about what makes criminal organizations different from one another, and discussed some of my ideas that I had already proved would work by example. The cellar snob suggested a hard cider, which did go very well with the meal. Then Tattletale raised the stakes.

"So, now, after we've had this very edifying conversation, what do we need you for? I can already imagine several ways that we can use what you've told us to improve our organization. I can see that you got Bitch's attention a couple times too."

I couldn't help but frown. "There's a difference between ideas and implementation."

"You have already taught quite a few people the basics of your ideas. Your lieutenants. I know I can buy at least a few of them off and bring them in to help us, without needing you. Some of them would be enthusiastic about the idea after I convinced them I was serious. Dragon has offered to help as well, if needed. Your knowledge and experiences, about organized crime and government, are not unique."

 _Boss, I really don't like the way this conversation is moving._

 _Neither do I, Loiosh. Be ready._

"Was that the whole purpose of this conversation, to pick my brain so you wouldn't need to bring me into your organization?" I set down the glass of cider and pushed my chair back a bit, to give me room to move. "What's the next topic of discussion?"

Bitch stiffened slightly, and moved her right hand to where I couldn't see it. Her canines shifted their attention from the meat on the rubber mat in front of them to Bitch's hidden hand.

Parian looked much more attentive, and Foil shifted her grip on her fork.

I saw Imp's right shoulder move. She was either moving her hand to grip the tablecloth, or a weapon.

"No. Dragon and I had several discussions when she knew you were not watching us. While your experience in organized crime is useful, there's something else that you know that would be far more valuable." Tattletale smirked at me.

I locked eyes with the narrow-faced blonde woman and wracked my brain for a few seconds before realizing what she wanted. "Not everyone has the mental focus to be a witch, Tattletale, and few can be as good as me."

"But you can teach it." Tattletale insisted.

"I never have, because it's tedious, but I can. It's not just a matter of intelligence, though a certain amount of intelligence is needed. Focus and discipline are critical. I won't teach anyone advanced techniques if I think they will burn out their brain by pushing themselves too hard."

"I'm sure that at least a couple of us could learn." Tattletale smiled widely. It was clear that she expected she could learn witchcraft easily.

My eyes immediately moved to Bitch. Out of all five of them, she seemed to me to have the best attributes for a potent witch, and finding a familiar would certainly be easy for her. "Yes. All of you can probably learn at least some focus techniques and psionic communication."

Tattletale's smile vanished. It was clear that I'd not reacted the way she expected.


	11. Chapter 10

As soon as Tattletale's expression changed, Loiosh and I came to the same conclusion.

 _Boss, this would be a very good time for damage control._

 _I hope the truth is good enough.  
_  
Taking a deep breath, I started to talk. "Witchcraft is mostly about linkages and similarity, both perceived and real. Some ability to disassociate oneself from reality in order to allow creativity to enhance an effect is critical for advanced techniques." I looked directly at Tattletale. "I believe Thinkers with information-related powers will have a very difficult time disassociating their power. I may be wrong, but it will take careful, slow steps to be sure."

I locked eyes with Tattletale, briefly. Her expression grew a little less tense, and she nodded.

Taking a breath, I continued. "I was not expecting to have teaching witchcraft be a part of today's discussion, but I can demonstrate a simple finding in order to allow you to see a sample of what I can offer that you definitely do not have. Please understand that even a simple finding will take a very good student months to be able to perform reliably."

Tattletale nodded. "I've seen you work, through Dragon's remotes. It hurts to watch with my power active."

 _And you still want to learn?_ I couldn't help but think.

Tattletale's facial expression didn't shift. I knew she didn't use her power constantly.

 _Being around her is going to be like walking on eggshells, Boss. Neither of you likes taking a back seat._

 _I agree. I hope she also understands that._

 _Also, Boss, I think I can tell when her power is active._

 _Explain._

 _It looks like her blood pressure goes up when she activates her power. The shape and size of the blood vessels in her eyes change._

 _You're sure it's not just because she's mad?_

 _Almost positive. If she were mad enough to expand her eye blood vessels that much, the skin on her face and ears would redden. She has a fair complexion, and I've seen a lot of mad people around you._

 _That would explain Thinker headaches?_

The mental response was dry. _That's why I was looking, Boss._

I coughed lightly into my hand. "You would probably prefer to provide me with an item that can easily be taken apart into two pieces."

Tattletale looked toward Parian.

Parian, in turn, nodded and looked to me. "How large? Size, weight?"

"Coin sized to hand sized at most, would be best. Weight isn't critical. If it's cloth, I need to cut it."

 _No, you don't._

 _Shut up, Loiosh. I don't trust her to give me a matching set of pieces._

Parian made a small gesture, and a piece of ribbon several inches long detached itself from her sleeve. She handed the ribbon to Foil.

Foil balled up the ribbon, and tossed it to me, a perfect throw. I didn't even need to move my hand to catch it.

 _Boss. Are you sure Parian is the first target if things go bad? Even you would have a hard time being that accurate throwing something that light almost ten feet._

 _Yes, and let's stop discussing tactics when we don't know when Tattletale might turn on her power._

"Thank you." I nodded to Parian, who tilted her head slightly in response, though her attention never left the piece of ribbon.

"I need a knife and a few things from my pockets."

 _Tattletale's powers just went active, Boss._

I slowly twisted my wrist, releasing a throwing dagger and palming it, slowly cutting the ribbon in two, and returning the dagger to its sheathe. The whole time I had the dagger in my hand, I could see Foil and Imp's tension.

I held up one of the pieces. "Someone needs to take this out of the room to somewhere I can't see."

Tattletale looked at Imp, who smiled, stood, and walked over to me, taking the piece of cloth I was offering.

Then she disappeared.

I stared at my hands, and there was only one piece of cloth, where I knew I'd cut two.

 _Imp's gone again, Boss._ Loiosh was starting to stress out.

 _Kragar was never this bad._

"I don't know if I'll be able to find the cloth if Imp is holding it."

Tattletale met my eyes with her own. "Then we both learn something potentially useful."

My right hand twitched in the direction of my left armpit, and Jhereg wings flashed out, blocking Tattletale's view of my face.

More small movements. People shifting their weight. Barely audible whining of dogs. Whispering and sounds of retreating feet from the direction of the kitchen.

I couldn't help but think that was strange. There should have been footsteps coming towards us from the kitchen. Tattletale should have put at least one enforcer in the kitchen staff, and Loiosh or Rozca would have informed me when they were ready to flank us.

Speaking of Loiosh and Rozca , my familiars were on a razor's edge of preparation, ready to launch themselves at a fantastic speed that nobody in the room except perhaps Foil could match.

"Enough." Tattletale's voice was firm. "If you are going to be inside our organization, I need to know what you are trying to hide. I'm not going to allow this to proceed any further unless I get an answer I can verify."

I stared at the back of my familiars' wings for two seconds, frantically thinking.

The tension in the room grew thicker. I could feel my tendons humming under the stress of being prepared to move, while holding myself absolutely still.

 _Boss…_

"Fine." I grated out after finally deciding that I would have to reveal Lady Teldra.

 _Drop your wings, Loiosh, and ask Rozca to do the same._

"What is under your arm?"

"Lady Teldra."

Tattletale's eyes narrowed. "More."

"She is what is called a 'Great Weapon' on my world."

Bitch laughed. "Witchcraft, and now magic swords?"

"Yes." I did not look at Bitch. Directly. I could see her posture peripherally, and could easily put a dagger into her before she could move.

 _Yes, I will roast the wolf for you if we fight, Loiosh._

Loiosh did not respond, he was too intent on our surroundings, but I felt a brief flash of amusement.

"Show me." Tattletale demanded.

"No. She will break your mind."

Foil snorted, and suppressed laughter.

"Am I lying, Tattletale?" I hissed. "Control your people, and have Imp become visible."

"You think you are telling the truth, but you're not telling the whole truth."

"This is not going to end well if you don't have Imp become visible now. You can see how much her being invisible near me is stressing me out, and my familiars." I put some threat in my voice.

Tattletale stared at me for about half a second, then waved her hand. "Fine. Imp."

Imp popped into existence standing a little to the side of Tattletale, with a pistol pointed at me.

I frowned. Imp with a pistol was outside her normal, historical behavior. Invisible assassin with a ranged weapon. Very bad combination for me. Very smart for her. I would have been happy for her if she hadn't been aiming the pistol at me while she was invisible.

Imp's pistol was already moving to the side. By the time I registered that she was carrying it, she was no longer pointing it at me.

After making sure Imp stayed visible and the pistol wasn't going to be brought back in line to point at me, I continued speaking. "I can show you her sheathe, but I cannot draw her. Great Weapons cause terror in the minds of those who are not also wielders of Great Weapons. If you are strong willed enough to not immediately flee, as tense as this room is right now, we would probably fight, and I would be forced to subdue or kill all of you who remained."

Foil smiled, a confident smile.

I couldn't help but snap a barb at her. "I would be more than willing to teach you how to use a weapon without having to kill you to do it, Foil. I've watched footage of you fighting. You attack well but your defenses are pathetic. You clearly have had almost no training. I know how you will lead, and where you will be before you get there. Even though you move faster than any person I've ever met, it won't help you, because you don't know what you're doing, and I do."

"That only matters if you get a chance to attack, I think." Was her foolishly confident response.

"Stop. Both of you." Tattletale commanded.

Imp's voice broke in. "The mass hysteria near the warehouse where half a dozen ABB gang members were killed, a couple months back."

"Yes. That was Lady Teldra." I took credit for the effect as I carefully turned my head so I almost couldn't see Foil any longer.

Tattletale's eyes were growing visibly bloodshot. "You speak and think about the weapon like it is a person. A friend."

 _Because she was, and is._

I did not reply out loud to the implied question. Lady Teldra was one of the nicest Dragareans I had ever known, before she had her soul ripped out of her body by the weapon that I was carrying. If I hadn't acted instinctively, wrapping the hilt of what had been a powerful but non-sentient Morganti weapon with another weapon of mine, the anti-magical chain, Spellbreaker, she would have been consumed by the blade. I still have no idea what I did, but Spellbreaker, Lady Teldra's soul, and the once-lifeless Morganti weapon had combined to form a Great Weapon. I still felt a lot of guilt for what had happened to Lady Teldra, even though I, several of my friends who were also our world's most powerful defenders, and perhaps even Verra would have died at the hands of the Jeonine that day, if events hadn't unfolded the way they did.

"I am going to remove Lady Teldra's sheathe from under my left armpit now." I announced in measured, calm tones, then I performed the action carefully, smoothly, with no sudden movements.

As Lady Teldra's sheathe emerged from under my coat, a strange, confused expression grew on Parian's face. "The sheathe feels like leather or cloth, but I can't touch it with my power."

Tattletale blinked a few times as she stared at Lady Teldra, then winced and knuckled her forehead. "Witchcraft and magic weapons. Fine. Whatever. Dragon told me that something about you gave Oracle fits. I'd guess that's it. You come from a seriously odd dimension."

"So do you." I replied with a forced smile.

"The cloth. You didn't find it yet." Bitch said, loudly, making several of us jump, slightly.

 _Definitely good witch potential there, even if subtlety is completely missing._

I gave Bitch a small, carefully toothless smile. "Right. Shall we continue? This time, Imp, if you are going to hold the cloth, please wait until I am ready to begin, then become invisible and move. If I can feel the location of the cloth when you are carrying it, I'll point at it with my right index finger."

Tattletale nodded. "Fine. As he asks, Imp."

Imp was clearly unhappy, staring at Tattletale, who had started pressing a napkin with a reddish spot against her nose.

Tattletale looked up at imp and scowled. "I'm fine."

Turning her head to me, Imp spoke, clearly irritated. "Make it fast."

"A simple location like this will only take a couple minutes to set up. I have paper and writing implements in my jacket pockets."

"Whatever. Do it." Imp snapped, her eyes flicking in Tattletale's direction.

It only took me about a minute to scratch out a quick diagram. I placed it on the table, and put the half of the ribbon in my possession in the center of it.

 _Are you sure you want to do this, Boss?_

 _I am. Is Tattletale watching with her power?_

 _No. Definitely not. Eye blood vessels are not dilated at all._ I felt Loiosh's attention return to me. _We've tried to scry Imp with her blood from your dagger before we used the rest of it in the poppet. It didn't work._

 _It didn't work because we couldn't focus on her, Loiosh. I think the magic worked, we just couldn't maintain concentration on her because of her power, so it felt like we failed._

I could feel Loiosh's wariness and indecision, so I tried to convince him. _We aren't going to scry Imp, only the direction of the cloth she is holding._

 _Association. Connection._ Loiosh thought back at me, dubiously.

 _I'll be careful. We need to do this or they'll think I'm delusional._

 _Because delusional people carry 'magic swords' with leather sheathes that Parian can't control, and that give Tattletale thinker headaches. There are other ways we can prove you aren't a nut, that don't require you to be reckless and experimental._

 _Point. I promise I'll back off, if I feel any sort of feedback forming._

 _That wasn't the answer I wanted._

 _That's the answer you're getting. Sorry._

The whole conversation with Loiosh only took a couple seconds.

I pricked my finger and fed the diagram a tiny bit of power through my blood.

Tattletale was clearly in a lot of pain.

 _Tattletale's power is stil inactive, Loiosh?_

 _I think so. Yes._

 _Slight change of plan then. Watch Tattletale, and tell me if her power activates._

 _Curiosity flowed through the link. What are you doing?_

 _Exactly what they asked, I'm just not planning on sharing all the results._

"OK, Imp. I'm ready." I pointed my finger directly at where I could feel the cloth in Imp's hand.

Imp disappeared. My concentration bobbled, but I managed to keep a connection to the cloth.

 _What am I doing again?_

I felt a very brief mental touch from Lady Teldra.

 _Imp. Imp has the cloth._

I blinked and tried to clear my mind to follow the cloth. As I did so, I saw what I was hoping for. From the corner of my eye, I saw Parian blink and shake her head minutely.

I felt the cloth moving away from the table, towards the kitchen. However, I carefully didn't follow it with my eyes or change where my finger was pointed as I continued to watch Parian in my peripheral vision.

Loiosh was laughing in my head after figuring out what I was doing. _I'll warn you if Tattletale turns on her power, but how are you going to fool Dragon?_

 _By not lying._

"I can't see it, Imp. Put it somewhere that none of us can see from here. I'll be able to detect it then, as long as you don't go too far away from the building."

I felt the piece of cloth moving into the kitchen, and then it made several turns. After about thirty seconds, based on the position of the cloth, Imp was now watching us from the cook's window, where food was handed out to the wait staff. She would be able to see us, but we could only see her head and shoulders, if she became visible.

The cloth dropped rapidly to what should have been counter level, but Parian didn't react.

 _I hope I'm right about this._

 _I'm not sure why you're trying so hard to fool them._

The piece of cloth dropped another couple inches. Parian blinked, and her head moved slightly towards where I knew the cloth to be.

I turned my torso and hand slowly to point my index finger directly at the cloth.

 _Loiosh, it would be wrong to let them know all our tricks._


	12. Chapter 11

I had miscalculated. It took me a week to realize that the Undersiders really didn't want to run a criminal organization. They didn't flaunt government rules and regulations because they wanted to make money from it, though they didn't turn down the money. They disliked the government for two reasons.

Firstly, government, or at least what used to be the PRT, had really pissed them off with how several things had been handled that directly impacted them. Such as outing the identity of Skitter, AKA Weaver, AKA Kephri, AKA their friend and leader at the time of the outing. Tattletale had determined that Dragon had been forced to take part in the outing at the school, because of her earlier code, which practically enslaved her, so Dragon had the Undersiders' forgiveness. Mostly.

I fully understood that. The agreement to keep the families of capes safe meant a lot less senseless violence and revenge killings. The same sort of agreement existed on Dragarea, though the mechanics were a bit different. Cawti and my son were mostly safe despite my actions. Cawti could become a target through her own actions, but not mine. Any Jhereg violating that rule would probably be killed permanently if they did more than bruise someone that should not have been touched. Roughing up family just a bit was still outside the rules. It would see punishment as well, more severe than the damage they inflicted, generally, but not permanent death.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, they had recently been rebellious teenagers, and were still holding onto a lot of that attitude in their early twenties. Capes were more aggressive than normal people in general, either physically or mentally. If they had been middle-aged, they would have probably already turned over the governing power they held, and been split up and included in different Warden teams, much like Taylor Hebert had done.

Tattletale knew this. When I confronted her about it, she denied it. I knew she was lying. Loiosh had seen her eye blood vessels dilate during the discussion, indicating her Thinker power activation, so she certainly knew that I knew she was lying. At that point, there was no point in further discussion on the topic.

Eventually, the Undersiders would go straight. Well, more lawful.

-Stop that. I have no problem with Foil and Parian. I just couldn't resist the pun.

Anyway, it was very possible, but by no means certain, that Lung had also recognized point number two. At the very least, it was clear that the Undersiders were very soft by the standards of this world, as criminal organizations went. The only reason they hadn't been taken out already was that they were a fairly close knit team, and could almost certainly take Lung down if they chose to do so, even without Bitch. And if he did manage to take out the team, chances are he wouldn't be able to take out Imp,and he'd never see her coming when she decided to return to finish him.

If Lung had figured this out, he was doing exactly what I would have done in the same situation. Keep just enough pressure on the Undersiders that his own organization wouldn't think he was too soft, but not start a war. He wanted them to grow tired of pretending to be criminals and leave.

The Undersiders had a very poor opinion of Lung, but I had a growing respect for him. Unfortunately for Lung, that only meant that I slightly changed my training of the Undersiders organization so that they would be able to exist and defend themselves without the Undersiders.

Every day, I tested a hundred people for an aptitude for witchcraft. On the first day, I tested the Undersiders.

-No I didn't forget what my new cape identity was, I just wasn't going to mention it.

-Fine. Parian made me a new costume.

My new costume was all black, which made me quite nervous, even though nobody here would think I was trying to impersonate someone in House Dragon or Dzur. I did like the big wide-brimmed hat, cape (yes, an actual cape), gloves and vest, but it was a bit more sheer than I'm used to. I've worn silk before, but rarely in a fight. I had a choice as to what type of mask I could wear. A Guy Fawkes mask, or a simple black bandanna across the eyes. I can't stand those little thin goatees, so I chose the bandanna with eye holes. The finishing touch was a bullwhip and a jagged white 'Z' on my chest.

-Stop. Laughing. I was clueless. I intentionally avoided those sorts of movies because it was universally horrible and offended me to see what they did to the art of swordplay. I can't use a bullwhip any better than the average cart driver, though they are handy for making loud noises.

Anyway, yes, they gave me the cape name Zorro. I thought it was a bit silly, and was worried that it was too much like my prior identity to be safe. Clearly we weren't worried about copyright infringement. I was convinced that as long as Loiosh and Rozca stayed in hiding, indoors, I would go unremarked. The Undersiders already had one blade striker. Lung might be suspicious but not make a definite connection if another showed up. Melee weapon capes had a tendency to team together, either so they could practice together, or compete against each other.

Back on target. Almost anyone can learn a little witchcraft, but I wanted to identify the people with a knack for it, or at least the potential for a knack. I wanted thirty students with strong focus and creativity, and I found them in less than a week. Only two of them were Undersiders. Parian, which didn't surprise me, and Imp, which did.

-Stop that. My shoulder is getting sore. I told you that I didn't know you well, back then.

Bitch refused to be tested. She had responsibilities, couldn't spare the time to be taught, and didn't want to be thinking about it. She did make an agreement with Tattletale to trade leather and meat for a couple witches to teach her people, and perhaps her, when I was done.

Why thirty students? Like my Lieutenants from the Pillars, my students would become teachers in turn. I teach them, they teach others. This is how an effective organization works, even criminal organizations. Even Lung knew that. If I hadn't killed some of his people when I dropped in on his pizza party, he probably would have recruited me as a trainer. I probably would have accepted, at least for a while.

-Yes, I almost certainly would have joined him, but not permanently. He treats his people too badly, and I would likely have killed him in a couple weeks after he tried to mistreat me.

-That would have been an interesting outcome. Yes, but that's not the story.

Every day, I would work with my Lieutenants in the morning, then the new Coven in the afternoon. After lunch, I would go to a meeting with Tattletale and Imp to discuss strategies and tactics.

After that, I brought my Lieutenants and Coven together into a single large class and taught them how to work together. This was mostly setting up scenarios, and me doing a lot of witchcraft to show the Lieutenants and the Coven how they could synergize once the Coven was far enough advanced to start offering help via witchcraft. There would be no 'left hand' and 'right hand' of this organization, which were only peripherally aware of one another, like House Jhereg.

Finally, every night, I went back to my quarters and spent two hours rewriting the old book of witchcraft, correcting the errors, adding missing information. Eventually my coven would need copies for their own studies and to teach others, and the book needed to be ready before they were.

Loiosh and Rozca were relatively happy in the food warehouse, doing a better job of rat control than the cats that they ate the first week had done. Unfortunately, there weren't enough rats. Jhereg have a very fast metabolism, and only eat meat. Rozca preferred her meat fresh, and liked to catch it herself, normally. As a result, the local animal rescue agency grew suspicious of me after the first half dozen adoptions, so I offered kids a bit of money for stray cats.

-It was a very tedious two months, and I'm not going to talk any more about it.

-Fine. I'll talk about the field trip.

** Planning the trip **

Tattletale looked at me with a strange expression. "You want to take the Coven to where?"

"Dahlonega, Georgia."

"Where in the hell is that?"

"It's in-"

"Rhetorical question. I know where Georgia is, but why would you want to go there."

"To find gold."

"What?"

"Gold. The shiny stuff that tends to be-"

Tattletale's eyes narrowed. "Stop it. I know what gold is. Tell me the reason why you want to go there, and use enough words that there will be a real reason buried in what you say."

"Most of the Coven has reached the point where they can do basic findings of homogenous substances. Like minerals that don't react with other minerals."

"Why not do that here?"

"Most minerals in the city are either everywhere, making it hard for a new practitioner to concentrate. Rare materials are normally hidden away in places where we don't have legal access. Like banks or laboratories."

Tattletale tapped her desk. "So you need somewhere out of the way that is a proven source of something rare."

"Exactly. Gold is rather easy to find with witchcraft, because it's very different from most other rocks due to how dense it is."

"I've never heard of gold in Georgia."

"This world's history says it was mostly mined out over a century and a half ago, but there is still a bit there. I checked, and found at least fifty or so pieces in less than five minutes." I held out my hand with a couple pinhead-sized pieces of gold. I'd already sold the biggest two pieces.

Tattletale's lips pursed slightly in annoyance. "You aren't supposed to be leaving the compound. We don't want Lung to-"

"Dragon arranged for me to-"

"You're getting favors from Dragon, too?"

 _Her power just went active, Boss._

"I have planned this out, Tattletale. Listen to me."

"Oh, I'm listening." She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

I forced myself to relax. Imp was in the room, like she always was when I was with Tattletale. I raised my right hand and started extending fingers as I made points. "First, I needed to verify that there was gold there."

A nod.

"Second, we both know Dragon is watching everything I do. I am a potential threat to her. Even if I do not have any plans to try to disable her, she would be a fool not to monitor me, because she can, and I can't do a damn thing about it without potentially killing her."

"I agree, few people have secrets from Big Sister if she feels you might be a threat, and not just a threat to her. Especially in high population areas. That's a discussion I've had with her on a few occasions."

"Third. Incentive is a powerful motivator. Gold is rare, and valuable. If the Coven gets to keep what they find, they are more likely to find gold, rather than, say, pennies buried in a park. Even if you were to offer gold if they found pennies, it wouldn't be quite as strong of an incentive for most people. Because they can go find their own gold later…"

Tattletale's eye opened slightly as she recognized the potential. "Are you going to crash the gold markets?"

"No. Fourth, Dragon will buy the gold from us if we find more than a pittance. She doesn't think we'll find enough in this dimension to destabilize any markets, and if we do, eventually, find enough to destabilize local markets, she will distribute the gold to multiple dimensions to prevent any local market crashes."

Tattletale's mouth quivered, then she laughed, briefly. "You're going to use Dragon as a fence?"

I grinned back at her. "The same thought had crossed my mind, but unfortunately, one can only fence stolen goods. She would be a legitimate buyer."

Imp became visible behind Tattletale. "Wait. So the Coven will be able to find gold to help fund operations? I was thinking we'd be selling love potions or whatever."

I shook my head and smiled at Imp. "Prospecting is legal. You have enough fairy tales explaining why love potions would be problems, even if your worlds had lost the knowledge that made those cautionary tales necessary. As for the gold, sure. The Coven will need a way to support themselves consistently so they aren't a burden to the organization. Some of the materials required for advanced witchcraft are not cheap. Gold and platinum are easiest because they are so much denser than the materials they are found around, but silver and gemstones will be doable as skills grow. You will want to be careful not to irritate Golem or other capes with powers to create rare raw materials that you can find." I raised two empty palms in a shrug. "Even if someone does destabilize rare commodities markets, there are plenty of other ways to make an income with witchcraft – ones that won't bite you in the ass like love potions."

Imp nodded thoughtfully, and then disappeared.

"That's a given. Golem and others with similar powers either won't try that, or they'll probably get reined in by someone before they can do too much economic harm." Tattletale uncrossed her arms and leaned forward. "Why didn't you tell me about this before I promised Bitch two witches to teach her people for a hundred bison hides and a ton of dried meat?" Tattletale seemed a little upset.

"You didn't consult with me before making the agreement with Bitch, and I certainly wasn't going to interfere in your discussion when I saw it happen. Bitch clearly does not like people butting into her conversations uninvited, even though she tends to be a bit rude herself."

Tattletale appeared thoughtful, and then nodded fractionally. "I understand."

"Nothing devious here, it's just a field trip to let the Coven practice finding something potentially valuable, both for their confidence, and so they can start thinking about how useful witchcraft can be."

 _Her power just turned off, Boss._

 _Good. Talking to her with her power active always gives me the creeps. Not being able to lie is annoying, and I know she can sense that I'm irritated to not be in charge._

"It sounds fine. Just one day?"

"Yes. One day with me there. After that, most of them will probably start making requests of their own to you when they have time. Dragon has already arranged for Valkyrie to door us."

** Field Trip! **

I stared at the unexpected extra person.

"Yes, I'm coming too." Foil announced.

"You won't have anything to do."

"There are bears in Georgia. And mountain lions." Her eyes narrowed. "And snakes and other predators."

 _Like what? Deer? If we were going to Wyoming or something…_

 _Maybe she means Jhereg, boss?_

"Every one of the Coven is required to train with, and carry a pistol on field trips, Foil. You know that. It can't possibly have escaped your attention that Parian is wearing one."

Parian bumped Foil in the ribs with her elbow, and very obviously tossed her head a bit towards the human-sized stuffed animal following her around. A blue Pegasus with rainbow eyes, mane, and tail.

Foil looked down at her girlfriend with a slightly guilty expression.

 _Oh. I get it now. Parian probably said I was cute or something, and Foil took it the wrong way. Lovely._

 _Well, boss, she did see you undressed when she made the new outfit for you._

 _Just what I need. More complications._

"Fine. We'll turn it into something useful. Once we get everyone started, maybe you and I can spar. Loiosh and Rozca will happily kill anything that's a threat, probably before anyone would even have a chance to use a pistol."

 _You got it, Boss!_

Loiosh had obviously told Rozca immediately about the permission to hunt wild predators, as both Jhereg hopped from foot to foot on my shoulders, clearly excited by the prospect.

Foil and Parian's eyes both moved to look at the Jhereg sitting on my shoulders. Parian with obvious interest. Foil with a bit of worry.

I'd been putting off sparring with Foil because it had the potential to get ugly. Especially after the conversation in the restaurant where we'd blustered at each other. Now if she was seriously thinking that Parian and I might cheat on her or something…

Parian's eyes suddenly narrowed and she looked at Foil with a suspicious expression.

 _Nope, I'm not watching or listening to this conversation._

As I was turning away to speak with Valkyrie, I did notice Foil's face soften before she found Parian's right hand with her left.

Loiosh had been following my thoughts. _Nah, boss, she probably trusts Parian, but doesn't trust you._

Valkyrie did not like me, and wasn't afraid to show it. She stared me in the eyes as she spoke. "I don't much appreciate playing taxi."

I looked at the imposing woman in armor. It looked like actual, functional armor, not the stuff on book covers that I'd seen in this world.

Suddenly, Aliera in a chainmail bikini flashed through my mind and I shook my head to dispel the image before it got me into trouble by making me smile.

"Valkyrie, Dragon knows what we're doing, and it's not illegal. If you-"

She interrupted me. "If I need gold, I have an Einherjar that can create it for me, and several that can find it."

"I was going to say that if you wanted to watch, you'd be welcome to follow along."

 _No, she wouldn't._

 _Shut up, Loiosh, I'm busy lying._

 _One of her dead capes might be able to detect lies, or Defiant may have given her a lie detector._

 _Good point. It's a white lie anyway, you always tell the people that you don't want to show up that you wouldn't mind them showing up. If you really want them to join you, there are more friendly ways to do it, and you don't ask them thirty seconds beforehand. That's true here, and back home._

Loiosh chuckled in my head.

Valkyrie gave me the why-am-I-even-talking-to-you look. "I'll pass. Thanks." She paused "I'll come get you in eight hours, unless something interesting happens. Be ready."

-Yes, I have a name for that look. I'm a Jhereg and an Easterner, a real human. I used to get that look from a lot of people from other Houses. Most people from most Houses, actually. Every now and then, I got to kill people who gave me that look. It was one of the perks of being an assassin.

-I'm serious. Dragareans live a long, long time. There were cases where I ended thousands of years of asshattery in a single cut. I love that word by the way. I'm definitely going to see to it that 'asshattery' becomes part of the dictionary in Dragarea when I get back. Anyway, there are times when I miss being able to do that more often. The ones sent to kill me were usually a lot friendlier than the ones that sent them, even if they were trying to kill me.

A hole in the air appeared, and everyone filed through into Georgia, next to a tourist trap gold mine that had been abandoned at some point in the recent past.

As soon as the last of us entered the portal, it popped out of existence.

"The gold will most likely be in the stream, or in the banks of the stream. But before you go, I am going to make sure none of you got clever."

I pulled out my divining crystal from around my neck. It wasn't a good one. Quartz in a copper wire cage hanging from a leather lanyard. I'd made it from the same materials that I had made my students use, to prove to them that it would work.

There was some confusion.

I nodded to the group. "I intentionally avoided telling you not to bring gold, other than the flake in your rings, because it should have been obvious that you wouldn't want to. Any other gold on you might interfere with your finding. I warned you about that when we made the rings and inscribed the settings. If you have gold on you, you're going to have to hand it over until the end of the field trip, or until you find gold."

I waited for the mutterings of agreement to end. "If you do not find gold here today, you will be asked to leave the class. That doesn't mean you can't be a witch, it just means you can't be on the fast track. Once we start, nobody is to approach within ten feet of anyone else until you find gold and bring it to me. Loiosh and Rozca will be watching. Their eyesight is amazing, so don't try to cheat to help another student, or you'll both be asked to leave the class."

Utter silence.

"But what if we find jewelry?" Jill, one of the more thoughtful students, asked.

I shrugged. "It's possible. Then you get free jewelry. Since you handed me your jewelry, I'll know it's not yours."

"I have a gold filling." Imp popped into existence to note.

A couple other people muttered that they also had gold in their dental work.

I gritted my teeth, briefly. The world's lack of decent medical care via sorcery was really annoying from time to time. And teeth didn't respond well to witchcraft healing, since large parts of them were dead material.

"Can't remove that. On such short notice anyway. You're just going to have a more challenging time isolating found gold." I shrugged.

There were some disappointed sounds.

"All of you have already found gold in class. It was easier for some than others. If you had a hard time, and you have gold in your teeth, that's probably most of the problem. The requirement stands. You find gold here, in the next eight hours, or you have to leave the class." I nodded my head. "Yes, it may seem a little unfair, but life isn't fair and I have to keep the class moving quickly. Psionic communications are harder than homogenous material finding."

Nobody complained too loudly. They were all can-do people.

I checked each student for gold. Everyone had their rings with sample flakes on a simple diagram under glass. Four students had gold in their teeth. Three of them had rings or necklaces, which I took from them to hold until they found a piece of gold in the stream, or we finished for the day.

Parian had been hanging back a bit. When I motioned for her to approach, she looked nervous. I verified her ring, but there was a second reading of gold that wasn't my reference piece or hers, within a couple feet of me, and she was the only one that close. Imp was visible, talking with another student with gold in his teeth, at least ten feet away.

"Parian, I'm detecting a second piece of gold."

"I… I forgot about that ring, sorry. Then I hoped it wasn't real gold."

"Well, hand it over." I held out my hand.

She blushed, turning bright red. "I'll need to go somewhere private to take it off."

Foil, standing several feet away, figured out what Parian meant at the same time I realized it, and gave me a stare that would have broken something if she were telekinetic.

"Oh." I shook my head briefly, and dropped my hand. "I don't need to hold it. Parian come back when you've taken it off and given it to Foil."

Foil and Parian went around the side of one of the buildings, followed by Parian's stuffed blue rainbow pegasus pony thing.

I turned to the rest of the class, who were all staring at me.

"You aren't very good at making friends, are you?" Imp asked.

Several of the students muttered in agreement with Imp.

"No, it's not one of my best skills. You need thick skin to be friends with me, I'm afraid." I swept my gaze over the group. "I'm much more interested in teaching you to be witches and keeping you from burning your brains out than being friends with you. At least in the short term. I hope you don't mind?"


	13. Chapter 12

_Boss, this is yet another spectacularly bad idea._

 _I know, Loiosh. I'm trying to get out of it. Keep watching the students._

"Zorro, you said we could spar." Foil was staring at me over folded arms.

I looked around in the stream where the students were wading in the water and along the banks. "I did say we could spar. That was before I accidentally embarrassed Parian."

Foil's expression tightened briefly, then relaxed. "No harm done. Neither of us think it was intentional."

Nodding, I accepted the statement. "Thank you. Still, I would prefer to have-"

Foil interrupted me. "None of us has ever seen you fight. We need to know what you can do."

I turned back to Foil and met her eyes. "Like I was trying to say-"

Again, Foil interrupted me. "You pretend to be some sort of expert in melee combat, but you won't spar?"

I turned to look back at the stream, keeping Foil in my peripheral vision. "Look, Foil, I happen to know that your power will let you turn practically anything into a deadly weapon. You are also aggressive in your fighting style, and have reasons to be upset with me. At least some of which will abate if we stay away from each other for a few days."

Foils arms unfolded from across her chest, and her hands dropped to her hips. "First, you tell me that I fight with no skill, and now you tell me that you don't think I can control myself?" Her voice was growing louder and her eyes almost seemed to blaze. "How many more insults do you think I can accept before I will never be able to spar with you without being angry?"

 _Bad idea boss. Don't do it._

 _If I don't, at this point, she might actively work against me._

 _Like you haven't had to deal with the Jhereg organization leadership working against you before._

 _I can't solve Foil with a blade._

 _Loiosh didn't respond, but I could feel him thinking of an argument._

 _No. I'm not going to solve Foil with a blade. Don't even suggest it.  
_  
My familiar sighed in my mind. _Fine._

Parian turned towards us from the stream. She was too far away to hear our words over the splashing creek water and background forest noises, but close enough to hear the tone.

She took a single step towards us, but Foil waved at her, then gave her a thumbs-up and pointed back at the creek. Parian stared at us for a few seconds, then returned to searching for gold with her simple crystal pendulum.

I relented, against my better judgment. "Fine. Three passes. Enough to prove that I'm not a braggart about my skill. More extensive sparring and training will be later, if you want."

Foil turned back to me, tilting her head slightly as she looked me in the eyes. She lifted her right hand from her hip and cupped her jaw, briefly. "Fine."

I raised a finger. "Weapons peace bonded in sheathes. A touch is a win on a pass. We'll coat sheathes with chalk dust to be able to tell where a hit happens. No strikes above the shoulders or to the groin area, since we do not have protective gear. No thrown weapons."

"Your reptiles will not interfere."

"They will not."

 _Don't do anything to help me. Pass the word to Rozca._

I felt reluctant acceptance over my link to Loiosh.

"What will be the start signal?"

"I will count to three. After I count to three, you may initiate an attack at any time. I will only attack in response to your attack."

After thinking about it for a moment, Foil responded. "That's a huge advantage you're giving me. You're not even a cape."

"Trust me. You'll need it. You don't have enough defensive skill to let me attack first."

Foil's eyes narrowed. "Fine."

I pulled a bag of chalk dust out of my pocket, and we both prepared our sheathed weapons.

"Shouldn't we move farther away from your students?" Foil asked as we faced one another.

"No. Dealing with distractions is part of being a witch. They know what they have to do. If they can't focus on doing it, then I need them out of the class before we start getting to more challenging topics."

Foil shrugged, her namesake weapon bobbed in the air slightly with the motion.

I was armed with a rapier in my main hand and held Lady Teldra in my off hand. She had configured herself into a parrying dagger with a wide hilt. Probably a sword-breaker, but I couldn't know for sure unless I removed her from her sheathe, and I couldn't do that without terrorizing everyone within several hundred feet.

Foil and I settled into position and stared at each other over our sheathed, chalk-coated blades.

"Ready when you are." She commented, confidently.

I examined her stance and weapon position. She was in a highly aggressive weight-forward stance, her weapon was perfectly still, despite her breathing. Her offhand was on her hip behind her. Perfect aggressive form.

I was in a defensive stance, my weight balanced, allowing for movement in any direction. I kept Lady Teldra held to my left side, in a blocking position.

"One." I called out, as I adjusted my position, twisting my torso slightly and bringing Lady Teldra a little tighter to my left side. I was rewarded with a slight shift in Foil's position.

"Two." I slightly adjusted my torso position again, raising Lady Teldra very slightly, and watched for the corresponding correction in Foil's stance. This time, both her stance and her weapon position moved very slightly. She was clearly going to attack my left side.

I locked eyes with her and smiled. I could see the muscles in her weapon arm and shoulder tighten, and her weight shifted ever so slightly forward. "Three."

Foil exploded into a full extension strike against my left side. There was no way I could avoid it, but I'd known that would be the case from the very beginning. Foil had reflexes and striking speed that were nearly as good as Loiosh's.

However, I still had two advantages that I abused. Weapon length and training. My rapier was nearly six inches longer than her foil, and I knew exactly what her line of attack would be. I barely had to move at all, just adjust the position of the tip of my rapier and drop my arm slightly.

As I felt the stinging slap of Foil's sheathed weapon striking my left side, my rapier sheath struck point-on right under Foil's sternum.

Foil straightened and backed away, rubbing her chest where I had hit her. "I hit you first."

I nodded. "You did. But consider where I hit you. It's a killing blow. I would have almost certainly damaged your diaphragm, and probably severed at least one major artery. Death due to oxygen deprivation in four minutes, or bleeding out in about the same time."

"You would have died as well, if my blade had been empowered."

 _Not necessarily._

"Probably." I shrugged. "I'm good enough that we'll both lose, every time, because you have no defense. Incredible speed and reflexes, yes. Enhanced strength, yes. Defensive skills, no."

Foil stared down at where she was rubbing at the chalk marks on her chest. "Again."

We stepped back to ready positions, staring at one another's eyes across our sheathed blades.

"One." I shifted my position slightly, but Foil did not move.

"Two." Again, I shifted position, slightly, and there was no answering response from Foil's stance.

Foil smiled at me, a toothy shark's smile. I'd killed a lot of people who smiled at me like that.

It was obvious that Foil had intentionally avoided choosing how she was going to attack me, hoping that she could make that decision and attack after I called three, since I couldn't attack her first. I had no clue what her intent was, so I could not counterstrike with foreknowledge like I had done the first time.

"Three." I leapt backwards.

As I landed, I commented. "Well done, in this scenario, avoiding making a decision. However, if I had been able to strike first, you would have died or been crippled. Very possibly you would have been able to counterstrike lethally, but the end result would be the same as the first time."

My opponent said nothing, only stepping forward confidently.

I moved from side to side slowly, keeping my rapier pointed at the center of her chest, watching her reactions. Her eyes narrowed and focused on my right hand.

We batted blades against one another with tiny movements for several seconds, and it became clear that Foil was looking for an opportunity to strike at one of my wrists. She could have done it at any time, but she was also glancing at my left hand, holding Lady Teldra. I had moved that hand forward, to better position it for a counterstrike. She seemed to be waffling between targeting my right wrist and my left wrist.

After a few more seconds of blade tip play, it became clear that my right wrist was going to be her target. When I saw Foil's right foot start to lift and her right shoulder start to drop as her foil extended, I began pulling my right wrist back, while twisting my torso and extending my left arm.

Even though Foil was far faster than me, she wasn't fast enough to hit my right wrist before I had moved it back nearly a foot. Her power allowed her to hit my wrist anyway, but it did so by forcing her to overextend into a long, deep lunge, leaving her wide open to counter attack. A moment after I felt a stinging slap on my wrist, almost forcing me to drop my rapier, I drove Lady Teldra's sheath under Foil's right armpit.

"How did you know? You started moving almost when I did." Foil asked as I put Lady Teldra between my teeth so I could rub my wrist.

"Your power makes you predictable when you are preparing to attack. The human body moves in certain ways. Your balance, your eyes, your center mass, they all tell me critical information. When you act, you act faster than I possibly can, but you don't think any faster than me, so whenever you make a decision, I can see it in your stance. Blades have certain weights and dimensions. I've watched a lot of footage of you fighting. You are probably roughly as strong as me, and have shorter arms for better leverage. You also never attack with any consideration of defense, relying on your speed and weapons to end a fight. Knowing those things lets me calculate almost exactly how you are going to attack, which is enough for me to decisively counter-attack."

"I see." Foil said curtly as she turned away from me.

There were several students staring at us from near the stream. I turned to them. "If you've found gold, feel free to watch, but keep your distance from us, and from one another, until I verify what you found. Loiosh and Rozca are still watching to make sure nobody cheats while they are hunting predators to keep you safe. If you haven't found gold, you're wasting time."

About half the students turned back towards the stream and resumed dangling their crystals from leather lanyards again.

Foil was walking back towards where we had started the prior two passes, swishing her weapon rapidly back and forth fast enough to cut tall weeds even though the weapon's sheath was round.

 _This is not good, Boss. She's upset._

 _I know. Remember I didn't want to spar right now._

 _Maybe let her win?_

 _How would she learn from that? If she ever found out I let her win, it might cause even more problems._

Loiosh was very unhappy, but didn't say anything else.

"Do you want to take a couple minutes to think before the final pass, Foil?" I asked as I walked slowly towards her.

 _And hopefully calm down a bit?_ I commented to myself.

"No. Let's do the final pass now. I want to try something different."

"No thrown objects."

"You already said that. I agreed." Foil stared at me, clearly irritated.

I gave her a very short bow. "Sorry I brought it up again."

Foil took up a stance, except it wasn't a stance. Her forward foot was at a poor angle. Her balance was too far back.

We raised weapons, sheathes tip to tip.

Foil's arm was twisted slightly, so her blade was slightly out of position, angling improperly.

After seeing her perfect form before, this was troubling.

 _I don't understand-_

I interrupted my complaint to Loiosh. _Oh. I see now._

This time I would be facing Foil's raw speed and strength, with almost no skill. She was apparently intentionally suppressing the part of her power that gave her weapons skills.

"One." I said, watching for signs that might indicate what she was going to do. I didn't dare try to read her weapon position or balance. Her eyes, center of mass, and large muscle groups would be all I could use to guide my responses.

"Two." As I spoke, Foil narrowed her eyes, making it harder for me to see what she was looking at.

"Three." Once again, I leapt back, but Foil was waiting for that, and moved forward, easily keeping pace with me.

She wasn't even trying to use any sort of technique, and smashed my rapier out of line, forcing my arm to the right, leaving my center uncovered. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was doing next. My side was uncovered. Her eyes were no longer narrowed, and she was looking at my side. Her balance was shifting, her sword arm was striking with a speed I couldn't think about matching with my sword arm for a parry.

But Foil wasn't using her power of perfect attack form. Lady Teldra was a much lighter weapon, and was configured as a parrying dagger with a large, wide hilt. Instead of resisting the force that had been used to push my right arm and weapon out of line, I used it to help me turn faster.

Like a matador, I spun roughly ninety degrees out of Foil's line of attack. It still wouldn't have been enough to force a miss if I hadn't managed to push her blade slightly out of line with Lady Teldra's hilt.

Again, like a matador, I struck down with my rapier at Foil as she tried to recover from being overextended, striking behind her shoulder at the same time that I dragged Lady Teldra's sheath across her sword wrist.

As Foil started to stand upright to the sound of some clapping, I tapped Foil on her left shoulder with the tip of my rapier and started to speak. "Fighting without your power-"

I stared as my right hand, still holding the rapier, detached from my wrist and started to fall to the ground. Foil's sheathed weapon had just arced through my wrist, severing it without any resistance, and no pain.

 _Boss! We're coming!_

Instinct took over. I struck forward with Lady Teldra, still in her sheath, and smashed Foil's weirdly greyish sword out of her hand.

Before the weapon hit the ground, I struck forward with the stump of my right hand towards Foil's face, stopping just short of her eyes, blinding her with the arterial blood spurting forcefully out of the stump.

As her hands came up to her face, I stepped on Foil's right foot with my left foot. Then my right foot lifted in the strongest forward kick that I could manage, planting it between Foil's legs.

"Oof." Her hands stopped moving towards her face, and started moving towards her groin as her whole torso started doubling over.

After connecting with my right foot, I pushed off with my left, allowing myself to fall backward, making a desperate throwing motion with my left hand to free Lady Teldra from her sheath.

As Lady Teldra shed her peace bonds and emerged from her sheath, a nightmare of horror attacked the minds of everyone present. I had suffered a mortal wound, and Lady Teldra was rather upset about it.

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood, watching as Foil started to straighten, looking around with wild eyes. She was much tougher than a normal human, and hadn't even fallen completely over after receiving a booted kick to the groin with all my strength.

Someone's hand brushed against my shoulder as I stood.

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood. I could hear hysterical screaming and see students who had been seated nearby standing up and running away, frantically scrabbling across the ground and through the creek in a desperate attempt to accelerate away from Lady Teldra.

 _Boss. What is that?_

 _What is what? If you're looking at the thing on the ground, it might be my hand._

 _Not that. You just. I don't have words for it. Popped back and started tumbling backwards._

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood. I saw Loiosh and Rozca suddenly turn away from a diving attack on Foil as a translucent bubble of some sort appeared around her. Valkyrie and three of her ghost capes walked towards Foil.

 _You just did it again. Is that Lady Teldra? We don't know what that bubble around Foil is._

 _Did what again?_

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood. Valkyrie was staring at me, and shaking her head. A ghost with a blue green suit and a hood and cape was standing near Valkyrie, watching Loiosh and Rozca as they circled, but making no move to attack them. On Valkyrie's other side, a youngish adult woman was barely visible, insubstantial even compared to the other ghosts. The third ghost, this one appearing to be a grey boy wearing some sort of uniform was standing fairly close to me, outside the barrier, watching me with a smirk on his face.

 _Boss. I don't understand what's happening here. Are you trapped, or is Lady Teldra protecting you, or something else?_

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood. Suddenly, I realized that I was somehow performing the same physical actions, time after time. I stared at the greyish boy, and a memory surfaced. I hadn't paid much attention to dead capes, but I did try to learn what dead capes Valkyrie had access to. One of them was Grey Boy. And I appeared to be stuck in one of his fields.

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood.

Loiosh raged in my mind. Before I could stop him, he made an attack run from behind Grey Boy, striking the neck of the ghost like a hawk stooping on a rabbit. The ghost fell to the ground, head lolling, neck clearly broken, and then started to fade away.

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood. Another translucent field appeared as the hooded cape shot out his hand at Loiosh, this time trapping Loiosh inside. Valkyrie nodded to the hooded cape. I started to speak. "You used Grey Boy to trap me-"

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood. "-even though it was Foil who chopped off my hand?"

Valkyrie shrugged. "Your pet is fortunate that Grey Boy's self-preservation power doesn't work as a ghost. For what it's worth, I apologize. We were watching the contest, and I saw blood, then you disarmed and struck Foil several times. After that, you unsheathed your weapon. It was quite startling. I reacted without thinking."

 _Boss, I'm trapped._

 _Find a hole to hide in or a bush or rock to hide behind, or something. Tell Rozca to stay away._

 _I'll try. Both things._

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood. "Reverse it. Remove the effect."

Crossing her arms and shaking her head, Valkyrie responded. "I can't. Grey Boy can't turn off his bubbles. Even if he could, your pet killed him. He'll be callable again in a few days or a week, but I can't re-summon him now."

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood. Foil had wiped the blood out of her eyes, picked up her weapon and was standing shakily. She looked at me and paled. "Oh. Shit. Valkyrie, what did you do?"

"Apparently, I made a mistake." Valkyrie shrugged. "Sorry." She looked distinctly unapologetic.

The hooded cape suddenly stiffened and fell to the ground, starting to dissipate.

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood. Valkyrie was staring at where the hooded cape ghost was dissolving, and then, suddenly, she had a blade to her throat, held by Imp.

"Don't move. We need to have a serious conversation. Right now. You just killed an Undersider."

Valkyrie smiled, despite the knife at her neck. "He's not dead. He's not even in pain. All you seemed to want him for was to teach witchcraft. He can still do that, I'd bet."

All four capes definitely seemed affected by Lady Teldra's fear effect, but nowhere near as badly as the non-capes had been. Capes were more aggressive than the average human by a large margin. Their aggression might be shielding them from the mental fear effect.

 _Boss, I'm free. Should I kill her?_

 _No. Not yet._

 _She'll summon more ghosts if Imp gives her even a second._

 _I'm not sure anything you do will make a difference for me, Loiosh._

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood.

A tendril of confusion made its way into my mind with the distinct feel of Lady Teldra. In a way, it felt a lot like Loiosh when he rummaged around in my memories. I could feel her anger grow as she started to access my memories of what was happening to us.

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood.

Parian slowly, cautiously, moved up and supported Foil who was still staring at me, ignoring Valkyrie.

As Parian ducked under Foil's shoulder, Foil began to spout apologies, slowly at first, then faster and faster. "I didn't mean to. I was upset and you actually managed to land what would have been killing blows on me three times. And the thing with Parian's ring. And the people watching you beat me. And what you said at the dinner meeting. You were right, I shouldn't have sparred with you today."

"Give me time to think of a response that doesn't include sailorspeak. I also need to convince my familiars not to hunt you down and kill you."

Parian and Foil both looked around nervously.

 _Good luck with that, boss. Valkyrie says you're stuck like this. That means Foil and Valkyrie die._

 _No. It doesn't. At least not yet. There might be a way out of this with witchcraft._

I felt Loiosh rummaging around in my brain. _You don't believe that. Oh. Hi. Seems like Lady Teldra is in here with me. She's uhh. Painfully unhappy. I'm going to back away and leave your brain now._

Imp and Valkyrie were speaking quietly until Valkyrie raised her voice. "You just knifed Eidolon. If anyone could figure out a way to free a Grey Boy victim, it would be him. I've asked him. He tried many times to free Grey Boy victims before he died."

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood.

Lady Teldra's anger had continued to grow, and, suddenly there was a psionic explosion of anger so intense that I actually felt a little fearful. That was the first time I had ever felt the fear generated by Lady Teldra.

All four capes stopped talking, looked at me, and cringed.

Parian started to whimper and drag on Foil's arm, and Foil did not resist, allowing herself to be dragged away. The stuffed rainbow pony that had been following Parian positioned itself between us, snorting and throwing its head as it pawed the ground.

Imp popped out of existence.

Valkyrie summoned two ghosts and whispered "Door me," and then disappeared.

I tumbled backwards twice, then stood, like so many times before, but then, before another second passed, I once again tumbled backwards twice and stood, staring at the translucent grey sphere in front of me.

The sensation of anger from Lady Teldra abated, replaced by a horrible aching hunger that made my stomach growl loudly in sympathy.

My arm was spurting arterial blood still. I quickly walked over to where my right hand still lay on the ground, and pressed the stump of my arm against the hand.

Lady Teldra seemed to shudder in my left hand, but I felt the flesh of my right wrist begin to knit together. The sensation of healing slowed, and then stopped, but the pain didn't.

Flexing my right wrist, I could feel bones grating together and every movement felt strained and painful, but I was no longer bleeding to death.

I sent a thought at Lady Teldra. _Thank you for everything. I know you're tired. I'll see what I can do._

There was the barest whisper of a mental _you're welcome_ before Lady Teldra went silent.

I sheathed her, and called Loiosh and Rozca to my shoulders before turning to Parian, and Foil, who were staring back and forth between me and the empty Grey Boy bubble and shaking their heads.

"I'm really sorry." Foil started trying to apologize again.

"Not now, Foil." I grated out, trying to ignore the pain in my right wrist.

Parian was staring at me, her stuffed rainbow pony was watching me very closely, still stomping its hooves and fluttering its wings.

Imp popped back into existence next to Parian and Foil, staring at me. "How did you do that? Valkyrie might be a stuck up bitch with an attitude problem, but she mostly tells the truth."

"I don't know, and I'm not in the mood to discuss it right now. First, we need to collect the students, find out if any of them need medical care, and see if they are in any sort of mental condition to try to continue finding gold."

The three women nodded.

"Loiosh and Rozca will help you find the students."

 _Help them find the students. Do not attack Foil._

 _Yes, Master._ There was a very distinct sense of unhappiness and a little rebellion in the tone.  
 _  
Sorry, Loiosh. A lot on my mind._

 _Apology accepted._ The thought seemed sincere, though there were still tones of irritation.

I pulled out my smartphone and checked it. I had two bars of signal.

"What are you going to be doing?" Imp called out.

As I turned away from the three women and started walking into a more open place, looking for better phone signal, I replied. "Calling Tattletale, arranging for another ride, and finding out if there is still a Kill Order list like there used to be for the Slaughterhouse Nine. I need to kill someone."


	14. Chapter 13

The next day.

**

This area was populated with non-cape humans, and it was very rare for capes to approach within a mile or so. The occupant had never been sane, and time spent imprisoned had only made him less so.

I walked purposefully through the darkness, approaching the gigantic concrete and steel fists that seemed to be gripping something spherical. Removing my backpack carefully with my left hand, I set it aside, and pulled out several explosive devices, gluing them to the fists with stickypads, and then picking up the backpack and walking a block away.

A press of a button, and an oddly muffled but still loud explosion later, I jogged back towards where the fists had been. I could see a grey sphere with tatters of white containment foam on it, sitting in a nest of broken concrete and steel fingers.

 _Hurry up boss. No way people didn't call the police after that._

I put my left hand on Lady Teldra, and noted that she had shaped herself into a very long left-handed foil. Perfect for the job at hand.

There was an incoherent muttering coming from within the grey sphere. I did not listen to it. I was in a hurry, and didn't want to have any witnesses. The only secret I still possessed that mattered was that Lady Teldra could kill with a scratch. I had even needed to tell Tattletale that Lady Teldra could feed on souls to recharge herself in the absence of the Imperial Orb.

Again, I dropped the backpack and removed the red flashlight from a side pouch and turned it on with my left hand before carefully moving it to my right. My right hand immediately ached with the effort of holding the light.

Shining the red light into the grey sphere, I saw my target. A tall, slender man with a neat beard. Early middle age. As I watched, he time-looped, wounds opening, intestines spilling, and then the scene reset itself.

 _Boss. Strobe lights two blocks from here. We need to go. Do it._

Whispering, I did as I had been asked. "Tattletale says goodbye, Jack."

I drew Lady Teldra, and immediately heard local pandemonium as people woke from sleep and began trying to flee from my proximity without having any idea what they were afraid of.

Reaching through the bubble with Lady Teldra, I struck the trapped man in the left eye, and felt Lady Teldra gorging on his soul as she rapidly repaired the remaining damage to my right wrist, leaving me with a nagging ache that would pass in a day or two.

The man in the bubble was instantly dead as soon as Lady Teldra pierced his eye, with a wound that would appear to have been the cause of death, though no coroner would ever be able to examine the body.

I wiped her blade on a rag and then sheathed Lady Teldra before placing the rag in the backpack. Total time elapsed from exposing Lady Teldra to sheathing her again was about two seconds, and I wasn't severely injured or in danger, so the fear effect wasn't quite as bad as it could have been. Most people didn't have good enough reaction times to move more than a couple feet in that time without being prepared to move, so I hoped that I hadn't caused anyone harm.

I picked up the backpack, threw it on my back, and ran into the darkness, Loiosh and Rozca flying overwatch and helping me avoid the authorities.


	15. Chapter 14

I knocked on the door, and Tattletale's voice responded. "Enter."

There was a buzz from the electronic door lock. As I entered, I noticed Clark, a failed Coven student, sitting in one of the chairs across the table from Tattletale.

Tattletale waved towards another seat in front of her.

I closed the door behind me, and moved to sit in the seat, while commenting. "I hope this is not a request for me to reverse my decision on who I will teach."

"No, Zorro, there will be no request for, or any order to reinstate Clark into your class."

Clark nodded as Tattletale continued to speak. "That said, I would like to introduce you to the newest Undersider cape."

I raised an eyebrow, then looked at Clark.

He nodded. "Yes. Whatever you did to scare me the other day triggered me. Three other students trampled me in the stream, I got caught in some driftwood, and nearly drowned. Then it got worse. Much worse. A few seconds later, it stopped, but when I got free of the driftwood, I fell and hit my head in the shallows. I don't remember anything for the next two days."

I remembered Clark's worrisome unconsciousness. "I'm glad you're OK. I was a bit concerned." Something immediately struck me as odd, and I commented on it. "Most capes don't like to talk about their triggers."

Clark nodded calmly. "Indeed. I seem to be an exception. Perhaps due to the nature of my ability."

Loiosh sent me a psionic message from the warehouse where he and Rozca were staying hidden away from the ABB. _How does this have anything to do with us, Boss? They don't want us in the field against the ABB._

 _No clue. I suspect we'll find out soon enough._

"I suspect that there is a reason for me to be here, but I'm afraid that neither precognition nor hyper-intuition are abilities of mine." I looked between Tattletale and Clark.

"Please, call me Serene now."

"Serene it is. Now, why am I here?" I looked at Tattletale.

Tattletale raised an eyebrow. "No guesses?"

"There are a lot of expressions in this world that I've grown fond of. One of my favorites is 'assuming makes an ass out of you and me.' Not that I won't guess when I have to, but when I don't have to, I'd rather not."

 _Boss, I think I know what Serene's power is._

 _Do tell._

 _Well, by this point you would normally be rather irritated with Tattletale for dragging on a conversation. But you're not. Then think about the name he chose._

After parsing Loiosh's comment, I understood. _Trigger events frequently lead to powers that can resolve the cause of the trigger event. Lady Teldra's fear aura triggered him. Capes already seem partly immune to her fear._

"You understand." Tattletale commented. "Serene's power is a field of null emotion."

That made sense. "No fear. I see."

"More than that." Serene shrugged. "No anxiety. No anger. No lust. Purely unemotional, but not necessarily logical thought. I damp out all emotion within fifty feet or so of me. It's always on as long as I'm awake."

"And you aren't asking for reinstatement to the Coven?"

"No. I wasn't your best student before, and I'm now three days behind. But I can still help by being nearby, even if I'm not in the class."

"You want to help the Coven train by damping their emotions?" I scratched my chin and looked at Tattletale.

"I thought it was worth asking." She replied, before I could say anything.

"It was definitely worth asking, but I have to refuse. Dealing with emotions is part of being a witch. My students have to learn without a crutch."

Serene looked thoughtful. "Understood."

The blonde shrugged. "Well then, Serene, even if the Coven can't use you, I certainly can."

 _She must have turned off her power._

 _Dunno, Boss, not there. Your eyes aren't good enough for me to see her eye blood vessels through your vision._

I raised a finger, drawing both of their attention. "I didn't say that. I only said I didn't want to dampen the Coven's emotions when training." I turned from Tattletale to Serene. "Your power might be a crutch for training, but after training, it could be an incredibly potent tool. I will try to find time to do a few complex exercises myself, within the range of your field, and see if there are any issues with your power interacting with witchcraft."

 _I suppose that the way we find out that there are, is when you start drooling?_ Loiosh interjected.

 _Shut up, Loiosh._

\- Yes, Imp, I do tell him to shut up. Exactly like that. It's self-defense.

\- No. It's not horrible. Loiosh and I squabble all the time. He gives at least as good as he gets.

\- No, he's not always right.

\- What? I have to live with him in in my head. Please don't encourage him.

Anyway, back to the story. Serene looked at me, cupped his jaw, and then dropped his hand and nodded. "Fair enough. Let me know at least a couple days in advance. I suspect that I'm going to be attending a lot of meetings."

"Yes. Yes, you are." Tattletale smiled at Serene, then stood and leaned over her desk, holding out an envelope to me. "I also have a message to you from Dragon."

I reached out for the piece of paper, cautiously. "Is there a reason why I'm getting this message while I'm in this meeting?"

"Better safe than sorry. I know that Dragon's monitoring drives you a bit nuts."

"How much does she know?" I looked at Tattletale. Killing Jack Slash shouldn't have bothered anyone. His Kill Order had never been rescinded.

Tattletale frowned slightly. "Assume she knows everything. It's the only way to be sure she doesn't surprise you."

 _Just what I need. Another meddling god._

I opened the paper and scanned the short message inside.

 _**_

 _Vlad,_

 _I have no objections to your intended actions of the other night, as Jack had a Kill Order on his head. However, what I am confident were unintended consequences have caused problems. In the future, please ask Tattletale to contact me so we can arrange cleaner scenarios. There were two triggers the other night at the site of your excursion._

 _You are fortunate that there were no deaths. Next time, you might not be so lucky. I will hold you accountable for accidental deaths as a result of Lady Teldra's fear effect, or as a result of others triggering, if you do not work with me to attempt to prevent mayhem._

 _Dragon._

 _**_

I handed the letter to Tattletale, who scanned it and nodded. "Let me know if and when it needs to happen." She looked at Serene and shook her head lightly.

"Did Oracle tell you to give me this letter now?"

Her response was a deadpan face and a non-answer. "That's a good question."

 _Pretty sure that counts as a yes, Boss._

 _I could figure that out by myself, oh genius jhereg._

I smiled back, emotionlessly but without teeth, making it clear that I knew that she knew that I knew that Dinah had warned that I might take some unfortunate action as a result of the letter if my emotions weren't damped.

"Would you mind if I borrowed Serene for a while? It's about lunchtime, and I'd like to think about a few things before leaving his field of influence."

"No problem. His schedule is free for an hour."

Serene started to object. "I was supposed to meet with-"

"Your schedule is free for an hour, Serene." Tattletale waggled her finger at him.

Serene shook his head. "There's going to be a lot going on around me that I'm not going to understand at all, I suspect."

I stood and nodded to Tattletale, who was already muttering over some notes that were likely related to her next meeting. "Welcome to being a relatively important member of the Undersiders. The more you know, the more you understand how much is being hidden from you."

My eyes met Tattletale's, briefly, before her eyes went back to her notes and I offered a hand to Serene.

As we left Tattletale's office, I was sure it had been a good thing that Serene was there.


	16. Chapter 15

**A week later**

 ******

Imp took a step back and raised her protective mask. "How long will it be before I can help cure people with witchcraft, like you did for Jasmine?

I also took a step back, and lifted my fencing mask. "I thought you didn't watch that?"

"I didn't, but word gets around. You might not cure cancer every day, but you give out anti-flu and anti-cold cures like candy. And they work." Imp shrugged, and I was glad that she was wearing proper protective gear. She didn't look a lot like Cawti, but she was a very fit young woman, and I'd been several months in this world, with no physical relationship. Friends with benefits was not something I was looking for, but the body has ideas of its own.

\- Don't look so surprised. I can look. I can even touch, with permission.

\- It's complicated. Cawti and I are no longer married, but I still only strayed because she said I could.

\- Well, because I'd probably have been killed trying to get back to her regularly.

\- A lady bard that we both liked and respected. But that's not part of this story.

\- Where was I? Oh, yes.

I thought about it. "Years for something like I did. Even then, not alone. Everyone still in the Coven is a fast learner, but none of you are close to me in raw psionic strength."

"Won't a familiar help?" She turned and walked back to the table on her side of the room where her water bottle was.

"Yes, but it won't help that much." I wiped my face free of sweat with the rag that had been folded over my belt.

She picked up her bottle of water, then asked. "And the energy drinks?"

"They help too, but don't really make you that much more potent, they mostly give you a deeper pool of energy to draw from."

I folded the rag back over my belt. "The extra potency from energy drinks also seems to be proportional to base psionic potency as well. I get more strength from an energy drink than you do, because my base psionic strength is much higher."

"So, a couple years, then a small circle of us could probably start curing cancers and other chronic illnesses?"

"Yes. The more pervasive the problem in the body, and the longer the problem has existed, the bigger the circle will need to be. If Jasmine had been an adult, if her cancer had spread widely, or if her body had simply become more accustomed to the cancer, I might not have been able to cure her alone."

Imp took a deep breath and set her bottled water down. "What about the Corona Pollentia?"

I adjusted my mask back into position and assumed a ready stance. "What about it?"

Imp took her place opposite me. "Can witchcraft remove them?"

"I've never given it serious thought. If the body thinks it's natural, probably not."

"It might prevent people from triggering?" She dropped her mask into place, making sure it was secure.

"That's Oracle, Panacea, or Bonesaw territory." I raised my blunt wooden dagger to point at her eyes.

"What about sorcery?" Imp matched me. Our weapons point to point.

"What about sorcery? There's no sorcery here. Ready when you are."

"You got here. Maybe, one day, we'll be able to go back and forth between our worlds like we can go back and forth between other dimensions?"

Imp's eyes shifted slightly, and her forearm muscles contracted before her triceps and shoulders started to drive her attack.

I tilted my arm slightly and tapped her knife out of line before it had moved more than six inches, then twisted my torso and used my forearm to push her arm farther out of line. From there, it was simple to put the point of my practice blade into the inner joint of her knife arm's elbow. "Weapon arm disabled. Eyes. Forearm muscles. Your form was competent, but you're still very obvious about your intent."

Imp rubbed her inner elbow with her off hand and nodded. "How long did it take you to stop telegraphing your attacks?"

Shaking my head, I chuckled. "I still haven't. Loiosh can avoid or counterstrike me as easily as I can do the same to you. I'm just harder to read with human senses."

"So, if Tattletale could fight with blades?"

"She'd be extraordinarily dangerous against another melee fighter. Unless her opponent understood what she could do and lived long enough that she got a migraine in the fight. She's better off with a pistol." I paused, briefly. "So are you, if you are using your powers. Undetectable melee is dangerous. What you've done so far and survived is impressive, but-"

Imp waved a hand at me, almost in dismissal. "I know. Tattletale tells me the same thing. That's why I carry the pistol now, and took classes on how to use it. A knife just feels right. Why don't you use a pistol?"

The question being turned back on me was unexpected. I shrugged. "A pistol isn't generally very useful at ranges past my effective range with throwing knives and darts."

"Bullshit. You're more coordinated than any non-cape I've ever met, and can read people. Bullets move faster than darts and knives."

 _See, she agrees with me._

 _We've talked about this, Loiosh._

"You might be right, but what about muscle memory? I've spent more than two decades building my reactions using specific weapons. If I learn to use a pistol, how long will it take me to learn before I'm accurate enough to be better at range with it than a thrown weapon? How will those new muscle memories impact my old skills?" I paused. "What happens when I'm attacked, draw the pistol, and throw it at my attacker, instead of shooting them?"

Imp started laughing, stopping after a couple seconds. "Sorry. Are you seriously that hard-wired?"

I shrugged. "Yes. I've already learned to shoot a pistol. I even carry one sometimes, but I can't imagine myself using it at any range where my blades and darts can reach, unless I'm using it as a threat, or am attacking from concealment. I don't dare train more intensively with it."

Imp nodded. "Like I said. Using a gun feels weird to me too."

"I suspect that's your power, not your training. You haven't got the muscle memory for knife fighting." I saw her shoulders tense. "No insult, Imp. It takes time. You're learning very fast, but you still have to think about what you're doing. When you start trying to counter me without needing to think about it, that's muscle memory."

"That's why you can fight Foil?"

I frowned, not particularly wanting to remember that sparring match. "Yes. Partly."

Apparently Imp was able to read my reaction despite the practice armor. "Sorry I brought it up."

"No, don't be. You're right. My training and her lack of training combined allowed me to be competitive with her. If she would train, she could easily beat me."

"Have you-"

I knew where she was going. "No. Loiosh won't let me train with her."

"He won't let you?"

"She hurt me badly. I was barely able to convince him not to try to kill Foil and Valkyrie unless they attack me again."

"Still, he's your familiar, right?"

"We share mental space. If either of us are unmovable on something, it gets really ugly if the other disagrees. We compromised. He doesn't try to kill Foil. I don't spar with her again."

"Sounds like living with a familiar isn't all roses."

"No, sometimes they can be horribly annoying. At least in my personal experience. Jhereg are also naturally very smart. Almost human smart. Noish-Pa's cat was nowhere near as smart as Loiosh, and didn't have the ability to make complex arguments, but still was very useful."

Loiosh sniffed indignantly in my head. _Almost human smart? Try seeing it from my angle._

 _Do you disagree?_

 _No. You sometimes being horribly annoying seems about right. And the bit about not being as smart as Loiosh fits too._

 _Smartass._

 _Part of the job description._

Imp moved back into a ready position. "So, back to the discussion before. What about removing the corona pollentia? You said that sorcery can regrow limbs and even bring people back from the dead."

I hesitated. "I'm not a good enough sorcerer to do limb restoration or revivify someone, teleportation is about the most complex thing I can do. If I was forced to guess, I'd guess that sorcery could remove the corona pollentia. I'm definitely not sure how powers and triggering would be impacted. That's far outside my expertise."

Imp waved her weapon back and forth, slightly, then returned to position. "You say you can't do sorcery here, but you got out of a Grey Boy bubble, and put your hand back on."

"No. I didn't. Lady Teldra did, and I have no clue how she works."

The intercom beeped, and Tattletale's voice interrupted our sparring. "We've got a situation. Everyone ranked Lieutenant or above, report to the big meeting room on the eighth floor. Fifteen minutes. If you're late, you better have a damn good reason, and I best agree with you when you explain yourself."

We both stared at the intercom for about a second before Imp sighed. "Shower's all yours. My quarters are closer to the meeting room."

"Thanks. See you there."

**

Twelve minutes later, I walked into the eighth floor meeting room. With wet hair. Sorcery is definitely superior to technology when it comes to hair drying.

\- Yes, I'm serious. Wet hair is annoying. Stop sticking your tongue out at me.

A quick head count showed approximately the right number of lieutenant or higher individuals, and all twenty-three non-cape Coven students were present. They had been granted provisional rank as lieutenants so they could avoid being required to fill standard duty rosters and concentrate on learning witchcraft. Capes didn't really have ranks, other than being above non-capes, and below Tattletale. I was an honorary cape. I didn't see Serene.

Tattletale was clearly agitated, standing behind her podium, waiting.

Imp popped into existence about five feet in front of her, and Tattletale jumped, startled, then scowled briefly.

The two whispered to one another for several seconds. When Tattletale showed Imp what was on the screen of her smartphone, Imp's body language quickly went stiff before the two stopped talking. Then Imp nodded, said something brief, and walked behind Tattletale before disappearing.

When the clock ticked to 8:42 PM, Tattletale started speaking. "Today, I received an email. From Lung."

The room went utterly silent.

Tattletale's head swiveled from side to side, looking towards everyone in the room, briefly, before she started reading from her smartphone.

**

 _Tattletale,_

 _In the last five days, there have been seventeen attacks on my product distribution centers. Those attacks have cost my organization nearly seventy million dollars in product and cash._

 _If you do not cease the attacks on my distribution system and pay me one hundred forty million dollars cash by tomorrow at five PM, I will consider the attacks as an act of war._

 _Lung_

**

Tattletale stared at the smartphone for about three seconds, in silence, before throwing it to the ground so hard that it spanged off the ground in a tinker of broken glass and stressed metal, bouncing nearly to her chest. "Do any of you realize how damn difficult it is to collect a hundred forty million dollars in cash in less than twenty-four hours?"

She stared over the group again. "Just from looking over the crowd right now, I can see nine of you that know what happened, and five others that think they know. You fourteen will stay. All capes will stay." Her voice grew quieter. "We're going to have a nice little chat to figure out exactly what the fuck was going on in people's heads to make them think that starting a war without bothering to consult with me was a good idea."

Tattletale looked out at the crowd. "Everyone else, start evacuating noncombatants to Bitch's dimension."

It took about three minutes for nearly a hundred loudly muttering, anxious individuals to file out of the room.

It took another ten minutes for Tattletale to interview fourteen people and find out what Serene had been doing, with the support of Undersiders who had lost family or friends to the ABB.

Two minutes after that, Serene walked into the room, stopping at the door when everyone turned to face him. "Sorry I'm late, I was down by the docks when I got the message."

"Stop." Tattletale's voice was liquid helium. "If you come any closer, I'm going to stop being angry." Her voice dropped to a hiss. "And I want to be angry right now."

Serene stopped where he was, and took a step back and to the side, putting him against the wall, close to the door.

Tattletale relaxed slightly when Serene stepped back against the wall on the far side of the room. "I've heard it from other people. Now I want to hear it from you. What were you thinking?"

Serene raised his right index finger. "One moment."

"Oh, I'll give you a whole minute." Tattletale's voice dripped sarcasm.

Serene lowly raised his left hand and started counting, raising a finger for each point.

"First. I was thinking that, on average, twenty-three people per month are dying from ABB 'enforcement', and various hard or tainted drug overdoses. Three months ago, my fifteen year old niece, Dana, died from a crack overdose. She was found in a dumpster."

I winced. _Sounds like he's got his priorities.  
_  
Out of the corner of my eye, I noted that Tattletale also reacted, swallowing and closing her eyes, before opening them again.

"Second. I was thinking that most of those drug overdoses come from the drugs sold by the ABB, since we don't deal with the harder drugs, or cut our drugs with PCP."

 _That's accurate._

"Third. I was thinking that with the addition of Zorro, we now have four combat capes. Five if Bitch will join us. More if she brings any of her capes."

 _I'm starting to like this guy more and more._

"Fourth. I was thinking that there is no reason why we should allow the ABB to continue to create so much havoc and misery. "

 _He's on a roll.  
_  
Tattletale clearly didn't think so. She was reddening, but not interrupting him.

"Fifth. I realized that everyone seems to be more afraid of Lung than is justified by his past defeats."

 _Lung would already be dead if it weren't for Dragon's interference._

Serene dropped his hands to his side. "Lastly, based on your policy of appeasement, I knew that you wouldn't move against Lung, so I had to make him move against us. Finding the drug warehouses was easy. Buy a sample of meth, and then trace it to the largest concentration I could sense with what I learned from Zorro. Then enlist the assistance of a few friends who have also lost family members. A few people to watch Lung's offices, to warn us if he came out, and the rest to raid for cash and burn the drugs."

I was nodding along. Everything he said made perfect sense to me.

 _Definitely leadership material._

 _Agreed, Boss._

Tattletale had somehow managed to avoid exploding while Serene made his last few points. She was red as a beet. "How long did you think about how many people might die in a war?"

Serene shrugged. "Long enough to realize that it didn't matter. If Lung is tougher or smarter than I thought, and kills a bunch of us, it will be a violation of the amnesty, and Dragon will take care of him. If we kill Lung after he attacks us, then its self-defense. All we did to anger him was burn illegal drugs and donate found money to police stations, food banks and shelters. He's a killer and a blight on the city."

Tattletale stared daggers at Serene for several seconds, silent. Then she seemed to deflate. Her shoulders slumped and she tilted her head to one side as she spoke. "If you had bothered to talk to me about this, I might have been willing to tell you why we were doing what we were doing, and who we were working with. But you took matters into your own hands, and now we're probably going to have a war, which has the potential to kill a lot of people who would otherwise never have been in danger."

 _A plan I wasn't aware of?_

 _Shocking. Our trusted leader would never hide anything from us._ Loiosh's voice was oozing sarcasm.

Turning away from us, Tattletale walked away from Serene, towards the exit from the podium area, talking as she moved. "Capes meet back here in one hour. I'll contact the Captains to have them join us as well." She paused. "Yes. That includes you, Serene. If I were Lung, I'd probably punish you severely. I'm not, so you're going to help us stay calm and constructive, so we can figure out how to handle this with as few deaths as possible. Zorro, make sure Serene attends the meeting. Parian. Foil. Come with me."

"Tattletale, I-"

With her hand on the door, Tattletale interrupted me without looking back. "You agree with him, even if you had nothing to do with it. Like him, you aren't aware of all the details of what was happening behind the scenes. I don't need that. Not until I can consult with some people and figure out if it's possible for us to salvage the plans he's probably wrecked."

 _Cool, Boss. We get to play low level enforcer again. Won't this be fun?_

 _No. It's painful watching her flail at leadership._

I stared at Tattletale for a moment before intentionally stepping closer to Serene until I felt my anger abate.

 _Boss, I really don't like what happens to you when you get near him. You feel… two dimensional._

 _Have you noticed anything wrong with how I think when I'm in his field?_

Loiosh hesitated. _No. It' just so bland. Better than when you wore the phoenix stone and I couldn't sense your mind without skin contact, but weird._

"Time for dinner," I said as I approached Serene.

"I already ate." He was staring at the door Tattletale had just went through.

"It's time for _my_ dinner, and _you_ are staying near _me_." I said, pointedly.


	17. Chapter 16

"Now I know what it feels like to be a sociopath." I said as I finished swallowing a bite of the spicy chicken sandwich I'd ordered from the deli right outside headquarters.

Serene glanced up at me, and responded with almost no delay. "I've given that some thought myself. I'm not certain it's an appropriate comparison. I damp out emotions, but I still understand and can remember empathy, even if I can't feel it." He lifted his glass of water and took a sip.

"I'm not entirely certain that you understand sociopathy." I sipped my cup of water and returned it to the table with a little bump. "Sociopaths can be quite good at understanding how other people think."

"I know right from wrong."

"You make it clearer that you do not understand sociopathy."

"And you do?"

"Yes. I've spent most of my life dealing with it."

Serene stared at me for a couple seconds before speaking. "Will you explain what you think I do not understand?"

 _Boss, Rozca wants some personal time. I'll be listening but not closely._

I could feel the shape of Loiosh's thoughts through our link, and knew that I wasn't getting the whole reason _. Does my being around him bother you so much?_

There was a pause before the response. _You don't feel like you when you're close to him._

 _Understood. I'll call if I need you._

If I could have enjoyed the sandwich in Serene's presence, I might have. I could see or taste no fault in it, and the bite of pepper was enough to require a sip of water from time to time. I finished chewing another bite, and dabbed my lips with a napkin to capture a bit of mayonnaise that had tried to escape, before it found its way into my moustache.

"I grew up as an Easterner in a city of Dragareans. Most Dragareans do not consider Easterners to be human. They reserve the word for their own race. Easterners, my race of humans, normally have few rights in the Empire."

"Racial prejudice is not uncommon in our world." I had all of Serene's attention now.

I nodded. "This is true. I have read about many racial issues in these worlds, and the differences between humans are even smaller here. Dragareans are legitimately different from humans in quite a few ways. Primarily lifespan. They can live over two thousand years, sometimes even three thousand or more, while, like here, Easterners rarely live more than a hundred. There are sufficient biological differences between the races that Dragareans and humans cannot crossbreed naturally." I paused. "That I have ever heard of. I've never studied the matter, but I have never heard of a crossbreed's existence, and something like that would probably be difficult to hide."

"I imagine that with such extreme differences in lifespan, it would be difficult for a relationship."

"Not for a brief physical relationship. But, yes, for a meaningful emotional relationship, there are a great many hurdles. There were a few Dragarean children that I spent time with while growing up, but even after I have been an adult for nearly two decades, most of those children are still children, mentally. My early life playmates, from a time before we were old enough to understand we were different from one another, are still learning to walk and speak properly. It takes at least a couple centuries before a Dragarean child is mentally ready to live without adult supervision."

"Fascinating. They sound like elves from some of our fiction."

"From what I have heard, in many ways, yes." I took another bite of the chicken sandwich.

"How does this lead to a better understanding of sociopathy?"

"Hear me out. The backstory is important."

Serene nodded and relaxed back into his chair, holding his glass of water.

"Dragareans do not normally consider Easterners human, but they are typically not very outwardly emotional. My father bought our family into the only House of the Empire that would allow it. The Jhereg House. It nearly bankrupted the family, and he died only a few years later, not long after my mother."

I thought of my past and it felt wrong. There was no emotion there. The facts remained though, and I could remember the results of my emotions. That would suffice.

"Because of my family's status as a member of House Jhereg, we were noticed more frequently by Dragareans that would normally have ignored us, other than to buy food or drink from our tavern. This was not a good thing for me as a child."

"How so?"

"I have mentioned that Dragareans age slowly. Dragarean teenagers pass through the same sorts of mental development that humans do, except much more protracted. As teenagers, they are sufficiently physically developed to learn to fight, if they are of a temperament to learn. Those who do have that temperament, spend decades learning to fight, even if they tend to learn a little more slowly. The temperament is very consistent within Houses, but varies widely between Houses. Rarely will you encounter a Teckla who knows even the simplest fighting techniques, though a few of them are passable wrestlers because that is legitimately something they need some grounding in if they breed livestock, as some Teckla do."

I took a drink of water, then continued. "Dragons and Dzur live for bladed combat. The Dzur are hot for it and seek combat for enjoyment. Dragons are colder, not typically starting fights, but always willing to immediately respond to the slightest provocation. Put a Dragon and a Dzur in the same room, and there will almost certainly be a fight within ten minutes, unless there is a very good reason why they should not fight, such as both of them being in the military, under the same commander."

I paused. "That was legitimately off track." I waved my hand slightly in front of my face to indicate that I was moving on. "The temperament of Houses is not of much concern here, other than that of the Orca. My family lived in an Orca neighborhood. Orcas tend to be belligerent and aggressive, but rarely learn blades, preferring fists and clubs. They enjoy fighting, and during the course of their childhood, they spend decades sparring and squabbling amongst each other. Outside the nobility, they rarely receive any sort of expert training in fisticuffs or weapon play, but some of them get to be extremely good at brawling after a couple centuries of learning from experience."

After making myself take another bite of the sandwich, I continued. "The House of Jhereg is not well-liked by any other House, and in most cases there is active dislike. Jhereg accept membership from anyone who can pay for it. Even humans or exiles from other houses. If you cannot pay for a rank, you can start at the bottom and work your way into the House Jhereg, in several ways."

I looked at Serene. "I grew up as an Easterner, and a Jhereg, in an Orca neighborhood. House Orca is one of the Houses that likes House Jhereg the least. It was not a pleasant childhood. When my father died, despite my love of good food and cooking, I did not want to run the tavern by myself, and sold it. Despite having a Jhereg title of nobility, I started at the bottom of the Jhereg House, becoming a Jhereg enforcer. I spent the first few years of my adult life beating and killing Dragareans." I leaned forward a little. "And I enjoyed it. Especially when the job allowed me to beat or kill Orca."

Serene cocked his head slightly. "That is still emotional content, and understandable."

"There's more. After a couple years, I became an area leader, and almost everything became business. Even dealing with Dragareans of House Orca was simply business, with few exceptions. Most of my time was spent dealing with mundane matters in the area that I controlled, and weapons practice. A small part of my time was spent earning coin by taking lives. To the point where I had a reputation, even amongst other Houses, as a dangerous individual. I had buried most of my emotions, and almost all of my softer ones."

"It seems to me as if this was a survival instinct for you, and clearly effective." Serene commented.

"It was." I paused. "I did have a few people I called friend, but they were rare, and I did not spend any great amount of time in their presence because of my responsibilities and side jobs. My Grandfather was the only person in the world who I cared for at a visceral level, and he was unhappy with my choosing to embrace my baronetcy within the House Jhereg and perform illegal activities as my living."

"I can see where there might be an intersection here with sociopathy, but I'm not seeing it clearly."

"I'm getting there." I took another bite of my sandwich. "If you had asked me before I experienced your power if I thought I might have been severely sociopathic in my youth, I would have said yes. I now can say no. Even at my worst, there were deeply buried emotional ties, and I have always had strong emotional connections to my Grandfather."

I looked across the table at Serene. "If I had been this emotionless as a man of your age, I almost certainly would have been a true monster. I strongly suggest that if you cannot learn to turn off this power, you keep close ties to people who you know to be of good character, and consult with them from a distance beyond your power's reach before you engage in violence."

"We killed nobody. We caused little harm." Serene protested, calmly.

"You had a reason not to kill. Killings might have brought law enforcement in before a war had started."

"That is true. We even discussed it."

I popped the last bit of sandwich in my mouth, and swallowed it, then pushed my chair back and stood. "It seemed likely that you had, or your people would have killed because a dead body is a lot less trouble than a live enemy. I've lived that life on my world. On this world, it's even worse. When you're dead, you're dead forever, no matter where the wound was."

Serene looked at me a moment, seemingly thoughtful. "Thank you for the advice."

"I'm not quite done yet." I held out my right hand to him, as if to help him stand.

Serene looked puzzled, but put his glass on the table and gripped my hand with his left, preparing to stand.

I pulled him to his feet with a powerful jerk, pulling him so hard we bounced chest to chest, with our arms between us. He spent a moment gathering his balance before uselessly trying to pull his hand away from the vice grip of my primary sword hand. When I was sure he had his balance, I allowed him to break free of my grasp momentarily, only so I could shift my grip from his hand to his forearm, a bit below the wrist. I didn't want to break any of his small bones if he struggled harder.

After my hand moved, he attempted for a moment to break my grip again, and I just stared at his face, not allowing him to remove my hand from his arm. He was not a particularly strong man, even for this world of convenience. After realizing he had no chance to break my grip, he stopped struggling and spoke. "What is-"

I raised my left hand between us and twisted my left wrist.

Serene's eyes immediately tracked to the dagger that had just sprung straight up out of its sheath and fallen back into my left hand. I moved the blade slightly so it was being held point-up between our faces.

Whispering so that none of the other patrons could hear, I offered advice. "It might seem logical to you, at some point, to make yourself leader of the Undersiders. If you wish to pursue that path, feel free to do so..."

Pulling him a little closer to me, so that both of our noses were nearly touching my blade, I continued. "…with words. I will warn you once that if you start maiming or killing people to take over the Undersiders, you had best kill me first, and I am rather hard to kill."

"How. Why?" His eyes shifted back and forth between my blade and my eyes. The calmness of his expression would probably have been unnerving if I had been capable of feeling unnerved.

I allowed us to separate by a few inches and flipped the blade between our noses into the air. With a slight movement of my forearm, I allowed the blade to fall back into its sheath. It had taken me nearly a year of occasional practice to perfect that move.

Serene's eyes followed the blade, but there was no fear there. There couldn't be fear there.

Keeping my voice low, I spoke again. "I remember the worst times of my life well enough to imagine how you might think, given time, because Tattletale likes to keep more secrets than she probably should, and sometimes her ideas are… strange. But she's learning, and the Undersiders, despite their protestations and criminal activities, aren't a real criminal organization in my opinion. Right now, I may be emotionless, but I know myself well enough to know how I would react to a violent coup attempt on your part."

"That doesn't make sense. Why warn me?" He kept his voice low. Everyone in the room was staring at us now, the closest prudently edging away.

"You have already proven that you are willing to act without permission, in a way that you admitted you knew to be counter to the wishes of leadership. Disobedience is one of the first signs of rebellion. If you had been a part of my organization within House Jhereg ten years ago, and done something similar, I would have killed you painfully, had you revived, and deducted the cost of revival from your wages. If you did it twice, you would have died again, less painfully, but permanently."

His eyes met mine and held them. No sweat. No tremors. No fear. It was very difficult to tell if I was making a lasting impression. He spoke after about five seconds of thought. "Again, why warn me? Would it not be more effective to simply enforce?"

I let go of his arm. "So you will think about it, like being told to sit in a corner and not think of a white elephant. Tattletale will recognize your musings, and watch for you to seriously consider it. If you decide to attempt a violent coup despite my advice, it will be a more complex operation, making it that much easier to spot your preparations."

Serene took a half step back and tilted his head slightly while rubbing the circulation back into his left hand with his right. "I suppose that makes sense in a convoluted way. Why not just tell her what you just told me?"

Glancing at the wall, I noted the time. "It's time to go back to the meeting."

I turned my head to meet Serene's eyes again. "As for the reason for my actions, it's not convoluted at all. There are two reasons we had this talk. Firstly, I have a position of authority, making me responsible for helping to maintain order within the organization. You are a new cape, who has stepped across at least one line already. Tattletale will have her own words for you, to be sure, but that does not relieve me of my responsibility."

Reaching out with my right hand, I brushed an imaginary piece of lint off his shoulder. He didn't flinch. "Secondly, the Undersiders will not become anything like House Jhereg while I am alive. If I were once again what I once was, and I wanted that to happen, it would already be reality, and this conversation would have been far more painful for you."


	18. Chapter 17

As Serene and I approached the same meeting room we had left earlier, I heard several voices that I was not expecting to hear. One was a voice I had no desire to hear. I stopped in the hallway.

 _Loiosh, I need you here, though I hope I don't need you to do anything._

 _You're still in range of Serene._ There was petulance in Loiosh's tone.

 _I am. That won't be changing in the next little while._

Loiosh rummaged around in my mind to bring himself up to date on my situation, and I felt his anger spike. _Valkyrie is in there? Are you really going into that room, Boss?_

 _It might be a video conference. I only heard her voice._

 _I doubt it, Boss, she can teleport. Why not just be there? When you could teleport, how often did you discuss important matters with others psionically as opposed to just teleporting to have a conversation?_

 _Point. And this is a potential war between organizations. That would explain Dragon and Defiant's voices as well, if they are trying to help preserve the peace._

Serene took two more steps before he stopped himself, giving me a mildly curious look over his shoulder. "What's wrong? Did you forget something?"

"No. I'm preparing to enter a room with a person that nearly killed me a couple weeks ago. Wait a moment."

Serene nodded before turning his head, and giving the appearance of listening a little more closely to the voices coming from the other side of the door, about ten feet from him.

 _Two people that nearly killed you a couple weeks ago. Foil should be there as well, if it's a full-fledged meeting. We'll be outside the window in a couple minutes, Boss._

 _Don't forget the breaker. Last time you crashed a window, you nearly died from getting cut up._

 _I remember. I have it. Rozca is carrying both her can of pepper spray and mine. Do you think gunpowder works back home?_

 _It might. We can experiment. I'm pretty sure all the right chemicals are there. I'm not sure it's any better than what even I could do if I compressed air with sorcery._

 _But you can make it and use it, even if you're wearing a phoenix stone._

 _That… is a very good point._

Loiosh's eagerness to use the breaker was strong in my mind, but I felt none of it for myself.

In my mind's eye, I imagined what my reaction should have been. Amusement and worry. Amused because Loiosh was carrying around a very small recoilless rocket designed to pulverize thick windows, and worried for the same reason. The Undersiders didn't have any really high-powered military equipment, but they did have a lot of urban warfare equipment that SWAT teams typically carried. Rapid window entry was one of the things SWAT teams needed to do, and if this war wasn't averted, our people would be using a lot of the same tactics.

 _Remember, Rozca can't be behind you if you use it, Loiosh._

 _We know, and, yes, we'll hide as best as we can as we fly there, but this thing weighs nearly half what I do._

 _Do your best, Loiosh, but if you're seen, you're seen._

\- Yes, I trusted Loiosh with a rocket launcher, if you want to call it that. It was more like a really big bottle rocket in a pipe with something like a stun grenade on its head.

\- It's not a gun. And it was Loiosh using it, not me. His target was a window, and they don't move, unless Vista is involved.

\- No, I didn't have poppets for Dragon or Valkyrie, or even Defiant. After I got out of the Grey Boy bubble, all the poppets I had made, had disappeared. When I made new ones, they also disappeared. Even the one I made for Lung. I couldn't protect them, got the hint, and stopped making them.

\- Yes, it was probably Dragon, but it might have been Valkyrie. Neither of them ever admitted it.

In any case, it only took about fifteen seconds before I could feel Loiosh moving rapidly in my direction, about three blocks away. By the time I entered the door, he and Rozca would be in view of the windows, and his link to me would tell him exactly where I was in the building, even if he couldn't see me.

I felt Lady Teldra changing shape, growing longer, so I removed her, sheathe and all, from under my left arm and shifted her to my belt on the left side. She rapidly grew from a sheathed long dagger into a sheathed rapier, my long blade of choice. The rapier that had been on my left side, I moved to my right. The dagger that had been on my right side, I moved to where Lady Teldra had been before she changed shape.

After that, I took about three seconds to quickly pat myself down to be sure all my weapons were where I expected them to be, and ready to use.

As I stepped forward, Serene matched my steps.

"Okay. Ready. You open the door." I said as we approached the end of the hallway.

Serene hesitated. "You aren't going to attack her, are you?"

"No, but I'm also not going to have my hands busy opening a door when we see each other."

Serene stopped with his hand on the doorknob. "I will step to the side then, after I open the door."

I nodded to him. "If nothing blows up, follow me in." I put my right hand on Lady Teldra's hilt, feeling her presence tickle in my mind at the touch. She seemed mildly irritated by something, probably the emotionlessness of my thoughts due to Serene's presence.

Before Serene opened the door, I put my left hand on his arm lightly, and whispered. "If a fight does happen, you will get away from me as fast as you can. If I think you are trying to stay close to me to prevent Lady Teldra from scaring my enemies and interfering with their ability to fight, I will consider you to be working against me."

Serene shook my hand off his arm and took a deep breath. "I understand. Are you always this paranoid? You shouldn't be capable of being fearful near me."

"It's not fear, its learned behavior. I've been hunted by all of House Jhereg as well as a substantial part of the Dragarean Empire for several years. It's not paranoia when everyone really is out to get you. Valkyrie nearly killed me."

 _So did Foil._ Loiosh pushed into my mind, somewhat petulantly.

 _Foil apologized, and seemed to mean it._

 _Seemed._ Loiosh grumbled mentally, but stopped bothering me about Foil.

Serene opened the door, and stepped to the side, allowing me to enter first.

Instead of trying to scan the room, I looked straight ahead without focusing, ready to react to rapid movements from any direction. After I took one full step into the room, I stopped. Everyone turned to look at me, but my defocused vision didn't pick up on any potential attacks from any of the twelve people and three ghosts in the room.

Tattletale nodded to me and pointed at the two empty chairs two seats down from her. I moved towards the indicated chairs, gesturing for Serene to follow me.

As I moved to my chair, I gave each individual a more careful look. Most of them were staring at Serene. Valkyrie and her three ghosts were staring at me. I did not indicate I noticed, though I certainly wasn't ignoring her.

When I seated myself, I did not pull the chair forward. I pushed it back, far enough that I could rapidly exit the chair in any direction without the table interfering with my movements.

Tattletale glanced at me, and frowned slightly before making a little motion under the table that clearly was meant to have me pull myself closer to the table.

I ignored her, and reached out to pick up the glass of ice water on the table in front of me.

Defiant was the first to break the silence. "First things first. I would like to validate our understanding of Serene's powers. Tattletale, please activate your power and ask Serene if he has any power other than an uncontrolled area effect ability to deaden emotions."

Serene started to speak "I do-"

Defiant's arm twitched, and he slapped the table suddenly. "Master protocols. Do not speak to me directly, Serene."

If he hadn't telegraphed the action, and if my emotions hadn't been deadened, I might have drawn Lady Teldra then and there.

"Why-"

This time Tattletale dropped her hand to the table with a slap. Then she raised her hand and spoke while staring at Dragon. "Do as he asks, Serene. You are a master, and a new one. They want to make sure you aren't hiding any abilities, and they don't want you speaking to them while you are asked." After a brief pause, she continued. "I suspect at least two other people here have lie detectors."

Dragon nodded, but said nothing. Under Master protocols, minimizing communications was to be expected.

Tattletale then turned to face Serene. "My power is active. Serene, do you have any power other than an uncontrolled area effect ability to deaden emotions? Answer me, not Defiant."

Serene turned towards her and shook his head. "That is the only special ability I have, that I am aware of."

"My power indicates this is the truth." Tattletale announced.

Defiant nodded, and Tattletale continued. "Yes, or no question. Other than the emotion deadening effect, have you ever affected my mind in any way other than through conversation or other normal, unpowered interactions?"

"No. As I said, I have no other powers that I am aware of, other than the emotion deadening field."

"I detect no falsehood." Tattletale announced. "Are you satisfied?"

Defiant looked sideways at Dragon, and she nodded back to him before he spoke. "Yes. Thank you."

"Good, let's get this started then." Tattletale picked up a pen and opened a notebook.

"No. Not yet." I spoke softly, while staring at Valkyrie. "I need some questions answered while you are here, Tattletale."

"This isn't the time for-"

I interrupted her, without taking my eyes off Valkyrie. "Tattletale, this is exactly the time for convincing me that I can work with Valkyrie. The other peaceful option you have is for me to immediately leave. I won't get into other possibilities."

 _You tell her, Boss._

 _Shut up, Loiosh._

Tattletale glanced around the table. Parian, Foil, and all of the Captains had stiffened, ready to fight or flee. Defiant, Oracle, Valkyrie, and her three ghosts were also clearly considering their options.

Dragon's chrome and ivory white female body remote didn't alter its body language in the slightest, but she did turn her head to face me directly.

Tattletale stared at me. "You're serious."

"I'm almost always serious."

In a calm voice, Dragon broke in. "I thought Serene's presence was supposed to inhibit emotional outbursts, so we could have a productive meeting?"

I didn't look at Dragon as I responded. "I'm sure it is. I haven't killed her yet, despite what she did to me the other day."

Valkyrie's eyes narrowed, and all three of her ghosts changed positions slightly, staring at me.

I met her eyes with my own and held them. "Did you intend to try and kill me the other day, Valkyrie? Yes, or no."

Valkyrie hesitated a moment. "No."

I looked at Tattletale, who nodded slightly, without hesitation. "True."

"That is a true-"

I interrupted Defiant before he could finish. "I didn't ask for your input, Defiant. I can't trust you or Dragon to act against the interests of Valkyrie if she tells a lie."

Defiant looked at me for a moment, then nodded. "Understood."

 _Do you trust Tattletale, boss?_

 _Yes. Mostly. I can usually tell if Tattletale is lying._

I asked Valkyrie another question. "Do you intend to try again to kill me?"

Valkyrie lifted her right hand and examined her fingernails. "Only if we fight again, and I do not want to fight you. What you are teaching is too interesting."

 _What I am teaching?_

I stared at Valkyrie and she turned her raised hand so I could clearly see the rings on her fingers. One was silver, set with a large piece of glass. In the glass, I could see a glint of gold, and under the glass, I could see inscriptions.

Tattletale's eyes narrowed. "Truth. All of it. She's been watching your classes."

 _Thanks, I couldn't figure that out for myself._ I thought, but didn't say.

"You didn't expect for us to allow the Undersiders to have a monopoly on witchcraft, did you? Dragon tried to learn it, and wasn't successful, so she asked me to try. It's interesting, and potentially quite useful."

Remembering the conversation we'd had when she teleported us to Georgia, I started to respond. "But you said-"

I cut myself off and stared at Valkyrie's hand for a second. "Never mind." She had clearly been hiding the fact that she was somehow watching my classes.

 _Getting played by these people is getting annoying, Loiosh._

 _She can't play you if she's dead._

 _Point, but I'd rather not kill her._

 _You've been doing a lot of that recently._

 _Doing a lot of what?_

 _Not killing people._

 _The guys in the warehouse? The pathetic rapists afterwards? Jack Slash?_

Loiosh sent me the mental equivalent of a shrug. _All pathetic or helpless._

 _So they only count if they are challenging?_

Another shrug. _Something like that. Carrion is fine. Hunting is better._

 _We need to talk about this later, Loiosh. Now is not a good time._

Tattletale was staring at me, tense, but relaxed as I nodded and spoke to Valkyrie. "Fine. Apologize, and mean it."

Valkyrie shook her head, slowly. "I won't apologize. I couldn't mean it. The fear aura when you drew your blade startled me and my ghosts, and they acted to protect me."

I looked at Tattletale, and she nodded curtly. "Truth again."

"If you continue to attend my class, you will do so visibly."

Valkyrie tilted her head. "I will either be visible in the future, or provide an image for you to interact with."

I stared, knowing that if Serene hadn't been there, I would have been near to exploding in anger.

Tattletale started to speak. "I'd rather-"

Parian put her hand on Tattletale's arm to interrupt her. "We can't stop her from watching. Don't push. We need their help, and the witchcraft lessons can be put on the table as compensation for that help."

Defiant shifted slightly in his seat, and looked at Parian, then Dragon, who nodded at him. "We can talk about that later. I agree the witchcraft has value, even if I can't make heads or tails of it."

Tattletale and Parian stared at each other for a second, then Tattletale scanned the room, her eyes falling on me last. "Fine. Are we done with twenty questions now?"

I didn't like all the answers I'd gotten, but they were enough. "I am."

"Good. The first thing we need to do is catch Vlad and my Captains up on what our strategy was with Lung, and why. Do you want to handle this part, Dragon, since most of the Lung operation was your idea anyway?"

Dragon took over smoothly. "Certainly." After a pause to allow everyone to refocus on her, she continued. "First, Lung was a participant in Golden Morning, and has earned amnesty. He pushes the borders of that amnesty with some of his actions, but he's not broken said borders."

She waved a silver and ivory hand. "You already know that. Now we get to things you might not know. Secondly, cape powers attach to humans via a process we do not fully understand. When a cape dies their power will, at some point, reattach itself to another human."

I shifted my glance to Valkyrie. Dragon noted my attention, and correctly deduced my thoughts. "That's not an option. The cape community would grow highly upset if Valkyrie started collecting capes again, even if she didn't kill them herself. Giving her Lung's ghost would be... problematic."

I nodded. "Balance of powers. I can understand that."

Dragon scanned the room as she continued speaking. "In any case, Lung is one of the oldest capes, nearly fifty years old but he doesn't look it because of his regeneration. He is far more in control of his power than most capes. His social upbringing as a Japanese male doesn't keep him from criminal acts, he was at one point a low level Yakuza member before gaining powers, but it does make him very conservative about some things. He's not flamboyant, and he mostly prefers to be understated and rely on his reputation to get him what he wants. In the right circumstances, he'll attack in an instant, but he generally considers most others to be below him. Most people, in his eyes, aren't worth fighting, unless he's challenged, and sometimes not even then."

I looked at Serene, who was rubbing his chin.

Looking back to Dragon, I spoke. "And we just challenged him, and are strong enough to be a credible threat to him. A lot of this could have been avoided if you had just-"

Dragon tapped the table with a finger and shook her head. "No. You missed part of the point. Even if you can kill him, which I'd be willing to grant is possible from what I've seen, if Lung dies, who will inherit his connection to his power? What will their temperament be like? Lung is a known quantity, mostly."

"The demon you know, as opposed to the demon you don't." Foil muttered to herself, barely audible.

She hadn't been trying to participate in the conversation, but Dragon turned to her anyway. "Exactly."

"How do you know his power will reconnect to someone?" I challenged.

Valkyrie spoke, briefly. "It will. As proof beyond my simple word, there are several extremely powerful connections from Scion which are occasionally popping up and killing people they connect to. The powers change slightly every time they manifest, and the hosts are living longer as the connections seem to be adapting, but the fatality rate is still 100%. As the hosts die from their uncontrolled powers, they frequently speak of the same scenes from Scion's death, so they seem to retain memories of his. I dare not collect them, despite how dangerous they are, for balance of powers reasons, as well as potential madness or death, but they prove that connections can recycle."

"So, you want Lung to maintain his power because the next person to get it might be more chaotic." I nodded. "That seems to make some sense."

Dragon looked at me. "I'm glad you agree. But there's one more thing. Some people have already broken with the amnesty, going their own way. One of those people is Teacher."

"Lung has connections to Teacher? I heard Lung threatened to kill Teacher, at least twice." Yana, one of the Captains, asked.

Tattletale nodded. "Yes. Lung has been hired by Teacher to perform several mercenary actions over the last few years. Lung's finances do not seem to improve after the actions, so he's likely saving up favors."

I looked at Dragon. "So, you are trying to use Lung to find Teacher. Wouldn't this scenario improve the chances that Lung would reach out to him?"

Oracle spoke. "Yes, but we wanted it to happen in a more controlled scenario. Your witchcraft and some of the obvious potential uses for it seemed to be a perfect way to gradually start to stress him until he chose to reach out to Teacher." She looked at Serene. "But you pushed too hard, too fast."

I nodded. "We scared him and he's reacting with more caution."

Defiant shook his head. "No. I strongly doubt he's scared. I'm not entirely certain his power allows him to feel fear."

 _He was afraid when Lady Teldra was out. I saw it._ Loiosh sent to me.

 _Enforced fear isn't the same, but still good to remember,_ I replied.

Dragon picked up where Defiant had left off. "Lung, when he's not feeling challenged, tends to be, for lack of a better pair of words, operationally slack. We were hoping that, as the threat from the Undersiders grew slowly, he would make a few aborted efforts to reach out to Teacher, but stop himself before actually doing so. That, in turn, would have the potential to point us at Teacher."

"That explains why Imp spends so much time watching him, I guess. You can't just watch Lung to find Teacher yourself?" I asked Dragon.

"No, I have to be careful about how I interact or interfere with Teacher. He brought me back to functionality after Saint crashed me, but as a slave. Defiant freed me and removed the code hacks that would have lobotomized me if I interfered with Teacher, we think, but we aren't completely certain that there isn't still some sort of hidden code. My creator proved that he could implement code that I can't find. Teacher's coders were less capable, but they had examples to work with."

Raising a finger, I spoke. "And yet, you are working against him. Don't you think he would be watching you? The fact that you are still functional-"

Defiant cut in with a sidewise swipe of his gauntlet, interrupting me. "Means that automated crash code has almost certainly been disabled, but manual code activation might be possible. Teacher hasn't activated crash code, but we don't know for sure that he can't. Pushing him might instigate activation."

I leaned back in my chair and looked at Tattletale. "I should have known about at least some of this. Not Dragon's personal situation, necessarily, but the rest."

She shook her head. "You have only been a member for a couple months. Despite your willingness to help in a lot of ways, I know you haven't always been completely honest with us." She met my eyes. "I've chosen not to press you on your honesty. Your cloying sense of protectiveness that I read in you towards us is irritating, but tells me that you intend us no harm. The ex-assassin and career criminal with a golden heart, slightly tarnished. It's a common trope in spy movies, but I never met one in real life until you."

Staring at Tattletale for a couple seconds while struggling to come up with an appropriate response, I ignored Loiosh's hysterical laughter in my head. "Fine. Any more surprises or things I should know?"

"Probably, but nothing that you need to know for the purposes of this discussion. I'll bring you up to date on some other things-"

Tattletale's phone rang, interrupting her. She looked at it, clearly not expecting the call. "One minute. It's Imp."

Her hand touched the screen, and she brought the phone to her ear. "You're calling early. Why?"

Tattletale's eyes opened wider as a male voice responded in an Asian accent, barely audible to me.

"Do you think I'm an idiot?"


	19. Chapter 18

"Is she still alive?" Tattletale asked.

"Of course. She is more useful alive, for now."

"Let me speak to her."

I looked at Serene. The conversation would have been incredibly tense without his presence. Tattletale and Imp were friends.

"I'm afraid that is not possible at the moment. Your friend has been sedated, placed in a container, and moved elsewhere by some of my people, along with a hundred other identical crates. A rescue attempt might interfere with my plans."

"We have almost all of the money now-"

Lung interrupted Tattletale with a voice carrying a great deal of threat. "Every million you are short will see your teammate lose one finger or toe. I will personally remove them slowly, without sedation or sharp objects. If you are more than twenty million short, I will be forced to get creative in what body parts are removed after her fingers and toes. Of course, you can probably make some sort of arrangement to have Panacea heal her, but the mental scarring, that won't be so easy."

Tattletale was silent for a moment. "We will have the full amount, if you will accept treasury gold in substitution for roughly a quarter of the money."

Smugness permeated the response. "Treasury ingots are acceptable, but after catching your spy, the deal has changed."

"If you raise the price-"

Again, Lung interrupted. "No, not an increase in price. You will agree to a condition for your teammate to be returned to you alive, even if she might be missing some body parts."

"What condition?"

"All Undersider capes will leave this city, permanently, and never return, effective midnight two days from now."

"If you kill her in cold blood, outside a fight-"

Lung's interruption was sharp, angry. "Yes. The amnesty. So many people think I might break it. Perhaps I will. Are you willing to bet your friend's life on my adhering to the amnesty rules after what has happened these last few days?"

Tattletale's eyes moved, looking around the room, eyes stopping on each person briefly, before stopping for nearly two seconds on Serene. "We need a week to prepare-."

Again, Lung interrupted, speaking slowly like he was chastising a child. "No, you do not. You can impose on your ex-teammate, Bitch, for a place to stay. You only need an hour to leave, and that is if you are slow about it. I do not care what losses you suffer, or what condition your organization is left in when you go. I am being gracious by giving you so much time." He paused. "I will call you again, with a different phone, one hour before we are due to meet for the money exchange this evening. All five Undersiders that I have not captured will be present. We will discuss the second half of the arrangement including Imp's return after we verify how many body parts she will retain."

The phone went dead. Tattletale carefully set it on the table in front of her, then rubbed her forehead. "He is extremely sure of himself. He knows we have the funds. He is confident he will not need to risk breaking the amnesty. Too sure of all these things. He's relying on information from others." She turned to Oracle. "Chances that Lung is actively working with Teacher?"

Oracle looked at Dragon, who nodded. After seeing the nod, she responded. "98.4 percent chance that Lung and Teacher are cooperating."

Defiant sighed, staring at Serene. "And we missed the connection."

I decided to ask a question that probably wouldn't have an answer I wanted to hear. "Teacher isn't thought to be a Thinker, but he is a Master, some sort of mental Tinker, and at least moderately competent. He can create strategic Thinkers to advise him, and those strategic Thinkers certainly would suggest he create precog Thinkers and other information gathering capes, in turn, to help them. This would allow such a council of advisors to watch for future events that would lead to his discovery and apprehension. Wouldn't this mean he would be ready, in advance, to reach out to Lung before Lung might reach out to him? In short, how realistic was it to expect to be able to catch Teacher by watching Lung?"

Dragon nodded to me. "Fair points, though I will point out that Teacher's precogs tend to be extremely limited, and only able to see a short distance into the future. Still, the chances of finding Teacher through Lung were always less than thirty-seven percent. Before your arrival, those chances were less than three percent, and that was our best opportunity. Before Serene's trigger, the chances were below twenty percent. Four days ago, the chances peaked, but yesterday, those chances had dropped to zero point two percent."

Oracle was nodding, agreeing with the numbers as if she knew them, which was likely, as she was probably their source.

Serene spoke "We can't leave, you know. At least I won't. Lung might not actually commit murder himself, these days, but he doesn't try to keep the rest of the ABB from doing so. Can you imagine the whole city under ABB control?"

"You won't survive a week if you stay, and they leave." Valkyrie stated, speaking for the first time since the phone call.

"Going your own path has already caused enough damage, hasn't it?" Tattletale asked, almost before Valkyrie stopped speaking.

Valkyrie and Tattletale were both facing Serene, but cut their eyes at each other, briefly, before their attention returned to Serene.

Serene wasn't having any of it. "Clearly, being emotionless doesn't make you rational. Don't you understand that you are using human lives to delay a confrontation with Lung that someone, eventually, is going to have to fight anyway?" Serene looked around the table. "Yes, Imp's life is at risk. You can save her. Lung will probably honor his given word. How many non-capes will die in the future as victims of a city-wide ABB so you can save one cape?"

The five non-cape Undersider Captains were looking back and forth between Serene and Tattletale.

Tattletale shook her head. "We're already evacuating noncombatant families of Undersiders. We will simply move to another troubled city and establish ourselves there, which will save lives to balance the losses here."

Serene stopped moving when Tattletale uttered those words, then he turned towards Valkyrie. "Valkyrie, I have a favor to ask of you."

Valkyrie turned her gaze to Serene. "What favor?"

"Teleport me to my apartment. I'm not going to be responsible for allowing this to happen."

Valkyrie shrugged. "Certainly. I'm not sure your presence is a good idea in a war council, though it might be welcome in a negotiation."

"Don't do it." Tattletale spoke quickly. "We need him here or we're likely to do something that we'll regret."

"Chances are very good that we're going to do something that we regret, no matter what we do." I said.

Tattletale looked at me, and her eyes opened slightly. "You have an idea? I want to hear it while I can still think properly."

I turned to Serene. "Let me explain my idea before you go."

Serene stared at me, for a second and then nodded.

After a deep breath, I started explaining my idea. "If Lung is working with Teacher now, there is a very good chance they are watching this meeting." I looked at Oracle and raised an eyebrow.

The young blond girl stared at me briefly, then her eyebrows furrowed slightly and she nodded. "Ninety-eight percent chance we are being watched."

The room went silent. Dragon stared at me.

I reached up and removed my mask. "Lung knows who I am now, if he hadn't already figured it out in the last couple days of watching us."

 _Boss, you've had stupider ideas._ Loiosh commented, with heavy sarcasm.

 _I have? When?_

 _Give me a few minutes, I'm sure I'll remember something._

"If Teacher is the one watching, he should probably know that Lung will be extraordinarily angry if he hides my presence, and I will be certain to make sure Lung finds out that Teacher hid that information. Rumor has it that they don't get along so well, so I suspect Lung knows now, or will know very soon."

Defiant was staring at me. "I fail to see how that particular gallon of gasoline is going to help put out our other fires."

I looked at Dragon. "I was told that I couldn't kill Lung in a way that I would have preferred, from surprise, so I didn't. I allowed him to live, despite my every instinct to the contrary. Your world has strange rules."

Switching my gaze to Tattletale, I continued. "Right now, Imp is being threatened with maiming or death if we don't allow Lung and the ABB to take over this city, which will result, indirectly, in more maiming or killing by Lung's piss-poor excuse for a criminal organization."

My gaze moved to Serene. "Despite my current lack of emotions, I am certain that I would be unhappy with either of those choices when all I have to do is give Lung the choice of fighting me, or proving himself to be a coward by not fighting me."

"You aren't the only ones who can kill him, you know." Parian spoke slowly as various extra ribbons, lace, and flaps of cloth detached themselves from her dress and formed into a foot-tall praying mantis on the table in front of her. She nodded at Foil, and then at the stuffed animal on the table.

Foil looked at Parian, frowned slightly, then shrugged and leaned forward to touch the construct, which took on an unearthly silvery shine over its entire body except for the bottom of the legs, allowing it to stand on the table without destroying it.

Parian dangled a piece of ribbon over the construct and released it. The mantis did not move at all, yet the ribbon ceased to exist wherever it struck the fake insect, only a few small bits of ribbon making it to the table.

The potential of combining Parian's power with Foil's hadn't occurred to me, but there was still a problem with that approach.

"That could work, but there's a major problem with you two doing it."

Foil cocked her head and looked at me. "That is?"

"You two are capes, ex-villains and both accepted the amnesty. I am not a cape, and have never accepted the amnesty. If I kill him, I go to a normal court, with a jury, and from what I understand-"

Dragon suddenly stood, interrupting me. "We can no longer be a part of this conversation. Valkyrie, door us back to headquarters. Undersiders, whatever you decide to do, be prepared for the consequences. I will be investigating everything that you do very closely."

A single man-high shining rectangle appeared on the floor behind Defiant, and he, Oracle, Dragon, Valkyrie, and the three ghosts left without saying another word before the door disappeared.

I looked at Tattletale. "Teacher, or the subject matter?"

She cupped her hand under her chin. "Both. I can read Defiant, but not Dragon. Defiant was having a very urgent text conversation with her after Oracle verified that this meeting was being watched. He pointed out that Teacher might be watching through her, possibly recording the entire conversation for future use as blackmail."

Tattletale's phone bleeped, indicating a text, Tattletale picked it up and quickly accessed the text, advising us on the content after she finished reading it. "Oracle says 98.9 percent chance that our conversation is no longer monitored. Dragon and Defiant are going into seclusion again. Oracle and Valkyrie are going with them in order to try and help Defiant and Dragon finish purging Teacher's code in Dragon."

I shrugged. "They couldn't really help us anyway. Not from their side of the law." I turned back to Parian and Foil. "Continuing where I left off, from what I've heard about normal human juries, they tend to be very lenient with people who kill to protect other people. Not only that, any jury pool from this city will owe me. If I kill Lung, they don't have to live in a city subject to ABB predation. If you do the deed, a committee of law-abiding capes might not consider all those things. They might make you an example to discourage future capes from breaking the amnesty."

Parian and Foil looked at each other, and Parian nodded. "We will be the second line of defense then. How will you prepare? What will prevent Lung from simply threatening to have Imp killed if he is killed? Nobody can find her if she's unconscious."

Serene interjected. "There you go again. One cape against how many non-cape deaths?"

Parian and Foil's heads tracked to Serene like a pair of jhereg watching a cat. There wasn't any emotion there, but there would be when the conversation was recalled later. Serene wouldn't be an Undersider for long if he didn't learn to keep his mouth shut.

The five captains looked back and forth from Serene to Parian, Foil, and Tattletale, and at each other.

I turned to look at Serene as well. "Irrelevant. I doubt that Lung would hinge Imp's life on his own. He does have an honor code. Before Dragon 'convinced' me not to pre-emptively kill him, I spoke to a lot of Japanese Americans from his generation, and they felt that they understood him. After those discussions, my sense is that he might make Imp's life a reward for defeating him in a fight, in order to encourage someone to fight him, but would never threaten Imp's life if he lost, because that would discourage his opponent. The first is fighting from a position of strength, the second is a position of weakness, and Lung will not allow himself to be perceived as fighting from a position of weakness."

"Didn't he just threaten Imp with death if we didn't leave the city?" Serene asked.

"That's not the same. Lives are currency, both where I am from, and, to a lesser extent, in the culture he grew up in. Trading lives between organizations is business as usual, but personal honor is different."

I took a deep breath. "I doubt he would have her killed, but she might be horribly maimed physically and mentally. She can be seen with cameras."

"And, if you do kill Lung, the ABB will splinter." Tattletale noted. "The people who know where Lung had all those crates stored might die or disappear. You could win, and she could still die, locked in a box somewhere in an abandoned warehouse."

Captain Davis spoke quietly. "Lung might not have any idea where Imp is. She may have been handed off to Teacher, or his people, since he's already outside the amnesty. Lung could completely wash his hands of any responsibility for her."

"True." Pausing, I thought about it, briefly. "Well, mostly true. He'd still be an accessory, if I understand your laws right."

I smiled, even though there weren't any emotions involved. There are proprieties that should be followed when being clever. "Don't worry, we're going to cheat, but we need to do it quickly. Teacher is almost certainly going to try to get surveillance back on us as soon as possible."

Tattletale stared at me, and I was certain that her power was active. "What are you thinking? You can't find Imp. She's unconscious."

I raised a finger. "Wrong. Every student of mine worked at my direction to create a ring that they could use to find gold. Imp was no exception. They were also told to keep those rings on them at all times, because objects acquire affinity for individuals over time, and the greater a witch's affinity for their tools, the easier they are to use. That affinity can be used to find misplaced items. This generation of affinity works for everyone and everything, not just witches and magical tools. Your shoes have an affinity for you that I can track, for example. So do your costumes. Or pieces of your costumes."

"But you told us that you couldn't track something Imp was carrying. You lied." Tattletale was still watching me closely.

Parian and Foil nodded. "We remember that."

"No, I told the truth. Very carefully, I might add, since Dragon was listening, and she does have a lie detector. I also made sure Tattletale's power wasn't active when I told those truths, since she would have probably detected the dodge, even though it wasn't a lie."

Tattletale rubbed her temples. "How could you tell-"

"That would be telling, and I won't say it out loud. Your power can tell you that I'm not lying, and maybe even see deep enough to figure out how I did it."

"You and I, we'll have a talk about this later." Tattletale promised.

Captain Yana broke in. "Isn't all this dialog and gloating wasting time when Teacher is probably creating a new cape with some new way to watch us? What do you need to find Imp?"

"Touché, Captain." I nodded at her. "State map, city map. Country map and world map would be good to have handy, but I doubt Lung or Teacher would have moved Imp far, considering how hard she is to find when she's unconscious, but I want the bigger maps to, just in case. Dimensional travel is supposed to be fairly easy to track, so I doubt they moved her that way." I pulled out my pouch of tools. "Everything else, I have here. Except my familiars. Serene, please open the window."

Tattletale pressed an intercom button on the desk in front of her position at the head of the table. "Christine, I want the largest scale state and city maps we have, as soon as possible. I am in the 8th floor main conference room. Also locate a good quality world map, and national map, but those can arrive a little later."

Serene opened the window I had pointed to, allowing Loiosh and Rozca to enter in a flutter.

Loiosh carefully placed the breaker on the table before alighting on my shoulder, opposite Rozca. I rotated it so it wasn't pointing at anyone. Loiosh had left it pointed directly at Foil, which was almost certainly not an accident.

Almost everyone stared at the breaker, then at Loiosh, and then to the window that was directly behind where Valkyrie had been sitting, which Serene had just closed.

"She tried to kill me. I didn't know for sure if she might try again."

"And what about Foil?" Parian asked, eyes narrowed slightly.

Shrugging, I told the truth. "She apologized. I think she meant it. Loiosh wants to kill her, but I made a deal with him, and he won't."

Loiosh hissed in Foil's direction, but I didn't detect anger in him.

 _Are you feeling emotions that I can't sense?_

 _No. My emotions are just as broken as yours here, Boss, but appearances must be maintained._

Parian's foil-imbued praying mantis moved slowly, rotating so that it faced me and Loiosh.

 _No more hissing, please._

"Serene, you still have the contact list of phone numbers for the other students?"

"I do." He pulled out his phone.

"Call them, and tell them to severely damage their gold-finding rings. I don't care how. A hammer or rock works, prying the face off with pliers, whatever. I want as few false positives as possible. If they object, tell them that one of our students is lost, their life in danger. Do NOT tell them it is Imp. Others might overhear the conversation."

Serene looked at his own ring. "What about my ring? I melted down the old silver ring to make this one."

I looked at his ring. "No. Your ring finds crystal meth, and you made it without my help. It won't resonate with mine."

Parian's ring bounced on the table, and the praying mantis in front of her quickly chopped it into very small fragments with claw strikes, without damaging the table.

Loiosh's attention instantly focused on the destruction of the ring by the mantis. _That thing is pretty fast, with fine control._

 _Yes, I've told you before that Parian is always the primary target. Anyway, let's be polite. No more hissing for appearances, or for real, without real reason._

A few minutes later, my ring was hanging by a silk string over a map of the city large enough that individual buildings were visible. Loiosh, Rozca, and I were concentrating on finding a similar ring, moving the map under my suspended ring as it tugged feebly against the string. There was definitely a connection to something out there. Between Serene, Parian, Foil, Tattletale, and the five captains, all other gold-finding ring owners had been found and destroyed their rings, except Valkyrie, but she was supposed to be in some other dimension where Dragon was hiding from Teacher.

When the hanging ring no longer tugged at my fingers, I lowered the string, and my ring was sitting on top of an old office building in the docks.

"She's there?" Tattletale looked at me, and then the map where my ring sat on it. She immediately winced and reflexively rocked back, her right hand quickly moving to her forehead. "I forget what witchcraft does to my power."

 _You know the place, Loiosh?_

 _We do. Good cat hunting there a few months back when you were running the Pillars. Damaged, unoccupied, but still structurally sound._

"Yes, she's there, and I'm going there to get her out."

"We'll-"

I cut Parian off with a swipe of my hand in front of my face. "No. You will dress someone else up as me, and go to meet with Lung and pay him."

"But-"

"No buts, Tattletale. There's a decent chance that Teacher has people who can detect capes. It's a known power. Valkyrie can do it, and so can Chevalier."

"He also has precogs-"

I cut Foil off. "And he's going to be watching YOU, and the person he THINKS is me."

Captain Fellers stood and started undressing. "I'm about your size. Let's stop wasting time with cape dick-swinging. Teacher might start watching us at any time."

I pointed at him. "Good point, and I wish I had a sense of humor right now to fully appreciate that statement, though I suspect you will regret using those specific words later."

Captain Fellers turned to look down at Tattletale, Parian, and Foil, who were all looking up at him from their seats. "I'm sure you're right, but that doesn't change the urgency."

Three minutes later, we had swapped clothing, not including boots. My boots are my boots.

"You aren't as close to me in fit as you thought," I complained. The chest was far too big. The pants too long, and much bigger in the waist. I also didn't have anywhere for the thirty-four different weapons I'd stashed on my person that day. "I'm going to have to go to my rooms before-"

At the same time, Captain Fellers couldn't even finish buttoning up my vest, or the pants, which were also highwaters on him. "This isn't going to be very convincing-"

Parian coughed into her fist, interrupting us both. "Ahem. If you two gentlemen don't mind a little help?"

I suddenly realized I'd completely forgotten what Parian could do with clothing. Her power worked on more than just stuffed animals. "Please, Parian, do what you can."

"I can do enough with what you have." She looked at Captain Fellers, took a breath in, and my cape suddenly separated into multiple pieces, a little from each side and the bottom, while most of the cape remained intact on his back. Lots of small pieces wormed their way out from seams where my extra pockets and hiding places for weapons had been. All of the little pieces rapidly joined with the costume pants and shirt, making them larger, so that the clothing fit Captain Fellers perfectly.

Then she looked at me, and Captain Fellers' clothing pretty much exploded from my point of view, and then came back together in a reverse explosion.

Total time elapsed, around thirty seconds for two complete tailoring jobs. Better yet, she had correctly rebuilt my weapon hiding places from the extra material in Captain Fellers' clothing.

I rapidly put all my weapons where they belonged, to the stares of the audience.

Captain Fellers blurted out "How do you-"

"Practice. Catch." I threw him my normal rapier and dagger, shutting him up. "Parian can help you wear them right. Don't draw them. It'll be immediately obvious you aren't me if you try. If it comes down to a fight, pull off the mask and drop your weapons. If Lung does decide to attack, he's fast. He's also very perceptive and knows what I look and sound like. On the other hand, there's a very good chance he'll know you're not me even with the costume on, if he gets a good look at you, even from a distance. You don't walk like me."

Captain Fellers started to argue. "You're a normal human too, I'm not afraid-"

"Captain, he's human, but he's by no means normal. I know you've seen video of what he can do, because you watched some of it with me. You fenced for one year in college, and weren't very good. Do as he says." Tattletale commanded.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Lady Teldra was dagger-sized again, under my left armpit. Under my right armpit was a new dagger that I had commissioned from a tinker in Australia that specialized in blades. I'd had her build it for me six times before she got the balance right. She charged me for each rebuild, and I gladly paid her. It was the most expensive dagger I'd ever bought, and the only combination of technology and blade that I could think of which would improve a weapon for me.

As I pushed my last dart into the spring-loaded sheathe on my left arm, I voiced my hopes. "With any luck, Teacher didn't get us under surveillance already."

Tattletale nodded. "Absolutely no more discussion on this topic. Not spoken, signed, or written."

"Don't worry. I've got this."

"If you don't succeed, I suggest you don't come back without calling first, because I'm not entirely certain what my…" Tattletale paused, looking at Parian and Foil, "…our reaction to failure would be outside of his presence."


	20. Chapter 19

_Boss, I really don't like this._

 _I don't much care for it either. Would you two have stayed with Captain Fellers and pretended to be his familiars?_

There was a pause of several seconds, and I could feel the sarcasm building to rare levels. _I have the option of going with you on a stupid, probably suicidal mission to rescue a girl who we can't see, inside a derelict building, guarded with who knows how many guards, and potentially capes we don't know the powers of, maybe Lung himself, oh, and I can't scout for you because if I'm seen, it tips off that we know where the invisible girl is. My other option is to pretend to be the familiar of a klutz pretending to be you, and staying in the boring zone around Serene._

 _That wasn't an answer._

 _You know my answer._

 _If I know it, and you know it, then why are you bitching about it?_

I leaned over and put my hand inside the baby blankets in the double stroller, scratching Rozca's and then Loiosh's head. As expected, after I scratched him a couple times, Loiosh bit me. Not hard enough to break the skin, just enough to warn me that he was irritated and knew I was purposefully teasing him about it.

I grinned and patted the baby blanket on Loiosh's side. _Sorry, I couldn't resist, but you did ask for it._

 _Better this than bland and boring._ Loiosh grumped at me.

 _If Serene hadn't been there making us bland and boring, we probably would have still been yelling at each other. Imp's their friend, there's no way they would have been rational and left this to me. At the very least, Foil and Parian would have come with us, and they don't know how to blend in. If these are Teacher's people, they might have orders to throw Imp's crate in a trash compactor if they are attacked. They could do that even without knowing Imp is inside._

\- Yes, you're my friend too, but it sounds more heroic for the savior of the day to go on a mission of rescue when they don't have a personal attachment to the-

\- Ow. I've been called worse. You know, my mother used to pull my ear like that.

Anyway, there was no way for us to get the double baby carriage close to the building where Imp was being kept. I could blend in with the carriage on the sidewalks inside Undersider territory, but nobody walked with a baby carriage on the docks. I couldn't even go into an alley in the better parts of town between the Docks and Undersider territory without seeming out of place.

In the end, the areas that were closest to the docks, but not quite inside ABB territory were as close as I could get with the carriage, and that was still four blocks from the building. Loiosh and Rozca could cover that distance in only a few seconds.

As I approached a rusted old truck that probably couldn't or shouldn't be driven any longer, parked on the side of the street, I slowed down a bit, and glanced in the window of the shop I was passing. There was nobody behind me. Using the truck as cover from traffic and the other side of the road, I pushed the carriage into the alley, ready to pull it back out again and pretend like I was just turning around if there was anyone looking at me from either side along the sidewalk.

I saw nobody, so I took three quick steps into the alley, then reached into the carriage to flip the blankets back. At the same time, I pulled out the worn denim coat I'd tossed into the carriage after I bought it at a roadside market along the way.

Loiosh and Rozca popped out with a flurry of leathery wings, sinewy necks, and long tails, settling onto nearby dumpsters, hunched down to hide their profile.

I turned the carriage on its side, so it would be very clear there were no babies inside, threw my hat at Loiosh, who dodged it easily, and put the jacket on as I was turning back towards the alley's entrance.

By the time I was back on the sidewalk, the jacket was settled on me. I had also helped a jhereg get itself arranged upside-down under each arm, between me and the jacket, and most people would be seeing a different person walking out than had walked in. Fatter looking, with a jacket, no hat, and no baby carriage. If someone had looked closely, they might have noticed jhereg claws protruding from right under my armpits, but few people look at clothed armpits.

There was only one person in my field of view as I exited the alley, and they didn't even look at me as I turned right and continued towards the docks.

Captain Fellers, fortunately, had been off duty when Tattletale had called the mandatory meeting. The clothes I was wearing under the coat were worn slacks and a long sleeve shirt that had seen better days, not the uniform that I had convinced the Undersiders to make for their people. Parian had not repaired the fabric. I wasn't sure she could.

The old denim coat, worn slacks, and shirt, all combined to make me look like a low wage retail worker, and there were quite a few people from the docks who had retail jobs in better parts of town.

This was an odd time of day for a worker to be moving back towards the docks, but not unheard of. I pretended to be nervously watchful, which would be very appropriate for a person walking alone into the docks. At the same time I was careful not to go too far and give the appearance of fear, because that would attract predators, and I might blow my cover dealing with them.

Faces in windows frowned out at me as I got closer to the docks. Silhouettes in the alleys turned my way, watching, then turned back to other shadows. Once I entered actual ABB territory, the shadows came out of the alleys and sat on car hoods and decrepit bus stop benches.

I turned down six opportunities to buy drugs, and two chances to catch diseases before I was on the same block as the building Imp was in.

Fortunately it wasn't a resident block, but chances were still good that the alleys between the buildings would be occupied by people who wouldn't appreciate my presence.

Moving into the second alley on the block, I didn't see or hear anyone immediately. I stopped five steps in to let my eyes grow used to the suddenly reduced light. As I waited for my eyes to adjust, I stayed still, and listened.

There was a nearby conversation from deeper in the alley. It sounded like a drug deal.

 _There are at least two people nearby, Loiosh. How are you two doing?_

 _A bit dizzy. Hanging upside down is a bat thing, not a jhereg thing._

I stepped to the side of the alley, and leaned against the dirty brick wall. I rapidly reached into one side of my jacket and then the other, gently lowering dizzy jhereg to the ground. As soon as they touched the ground, they rolled to their feet and scuttled under nearby dumpsters to hide, trailing their wings on the ground lightly for balance, running just a bit sideways. I nearly laughed out loud, but controlled myself.

Loiosh didn't miss my mirth.

 _I'm going to bite you for wanting to laugh at us. Twice. Once for Rozca too._

 _Not sorry, and I will bear the punishment stoically. Tell me when you're no longer dizzy._

A few seconds later, Loiosh responded. _We're both good now, Boss._

I pushed myself off the brick wall, shrugged off the coat, and dropped it in a nearby dumpster. Parian had not adjusted it properly, so it would only interfere with my movements.

Turning deeper into the alley, I started whistling tunelessly, barely under my breath.

 _Are you predators, or prey?_ I wondered about the people in front of me as I continued walking, making no effort to hide the sounds of my boots.

After I had taken ten steps, there was a flurry of footsteps moving quickly ahead of me, deeper into the alley.

 _Prey, I guess. It's probably a good thing. I wouldn't have been able to be gentle and risk an alarm._

I felt Loiosh's amusement at my mental meandering, but he didn't comment. He still wasn't in a good mood.

Rozca and Loiosh did not fly in the alley, they hopped along beside me, and didn't like it, even though they understood that they had to minimize their chances of being seen. I didn't rub their noses in it.

After four or five minutes of slowly making our way through the alleys of the block, I finally found myself looking at the alley behind the target building from about fifty feet away, behind a dumpster mostly hiding me from anyone looking from that direction. I couldn't see anyone watching the alley, and that was not good.

Loiosh and Rozca were under the dumpster, looking at the building as well.

 _I don't like it, Boss._

 _Neither do I._

If the ABB were watching the building, there would be people in the alleys. No people in the alleys meant Teacher's people were guarding the place. That likely meant low tier capes, cameras, security systems, tinker equipment, or some combination of the above.

 _How long has it been since I broke into a place with no prepwork, Loiosh?_

 _Umm. Never. You've always been smarter than… You're serious._

 _What other choice do I have?_

 _Sanity? Sanity is a good choice._

 _Who was complaining about being bored recently?_

 _Is this what happens after you spend a few hours with no emotions? Does Serene's power repress all those emotions and only allow them to return later as an overwhelming surge of stupidity?_

 _You said you knew this building, that you two hunted cats in it. How did you get in? What's the layout?_

 _We got in through the roof. There's a big hole in the middle of what used to be a window in the roof, like something heavy fell into the middle of the building. There's a large open space in the middle now, with trees some bushes growing in it._

 _Trees? How big?_

 _Almost to the ceiling. Like an arborium._

 _Think I can jump from the roof, onto one of the trees?_

 _Sure. Then you'd fall the rest of the way to the ground, and land with several broken bones, alerting everyone in the building that some dumbass just jumped forty feet through trees._

 _So little faith in me._

 _Which of us roosts in trees? Those aren't big trees with big branches, boss. They didn't have branches big enough to support a falling man when I last saw them, and they haven't grown that much bigger in just a short time._

 _I guess that means we need rope._

Loiosh hopped out from under the dumpster at my feet, and looked up at me, his head tilted to the side. _We can't just fly around and look for rope, Boss, remember? At least not in the daytime. Where would we find climbing rope in this place? The biggest ropes I've seen here are really thin. People use them to hang clothes on._

 _Maybe there's rope on one of these rooftops? Don't some of our buildings with broken metal ladders have rope ladders that can be thrown off the roof to let people climb down if there's a fire?_

 _If they were ever here, they were sold to richer parts of the city for drug money_.

I looked at the rooftops I could see, hoping to see the two side-by-side posts that the emergency ladders in many of the shorter multistory buildings in Undersider territory were connected to. There were none, but something else suspended in the air caught my eye, and I remembered what it would connect to.

Loiosh noticed I was staring at something. _What are you looking at now, and how will you propose killing yourself with it?_

 _You're just a bundle of sunshine today, aren't you? I think I've figured out how we can do this._

Loiosh rummaged in my mind, seeing what I had been thinking _. That's crazy, too heavy. It won't-_ He got to the good part. _Oh. That might actually work. Will the stuff hold your weight? Will knots made with it hold up?_

 _Only one way to find out._

**

I stepped out onto the roof of the building next to our target building, carrying yet another bundle of electrical wire ripped out of the walls of the abandoned building below. This building was a story higher than the target building. I could jump the gap fairly easily, but I'd make a substantial thump doing so, and there was virtually no chance of my managing to jump the gap, then knock out the guard sitting next to the roof access door. They would hear me hit the ground, turn around, and start making noise before I could cross the twenty foot gap.

Hunched over, low, so the woman guard on the roof of the target building below us wouldn't see me, I started rolling out the wire.

Loiosh poked his head over the edge of the building a couple times to watch her, and get measurements for me.

A few minutes later, I had three lengths of wire. All three lengths had a thirty-foot length of thin wire that wouldn't support my weight attached to one end. All three lengths also had varying amounts of heavier wire that would support my weight, thirty, eighty, and ninety foot lengths.

 _Ready, Loiosh?_

 _When you are. Please make sure the wire doesn't hang up on something._

 _I will._

I pointed at the two wires laid out carefully on the ground. The shortest two pieces had the heavy-wire ends sturdily tied to two different legs of an old water tower with knots that Kiera had taught me, though I really wasn't certain how they would work with wire. The thin ends were stretched out carefully in a straight line, pointed at the building next door.

Loiosh hopped around looking at knots and wires. _I hope you know what you're doing._

 _You know I don't, but it's our best option._

By then, Teacher had certainly kicked the ant's nest and told Lung I was still in town, and working for the Undersiders. I was confident, after the day's events, that Lung had enough self-control not to go completely unhinged and try to blow up the city to find me on a moment's notice, since he was about to have said city handed to him. He would try for his planned victory first. Collect the money, then force the Undersiders out of the city with the threat of Imp's death. He would either realize the 'me' with the Undersiders was fake, or it would be revealed to him, hopefully before he killed Captain Fellers. He would probably think I ran away

After that, he'd likely use some of the money he got from the Undersiders to buy Teacher's help in tracking me down, which would be problematic, because I'd never been able to track down Teacher.

 _I really wish Teacher hadn't gotten involved in this. I'd bet Imp's life on Lung not having her killed out of hand, but I wouldn't bet someone else's toenail clippings against Teacher keeping her alive if things start going pear-shaped for him._

 _This was the guy you thought about trying to get powers from, once?_

 _I can respect ruthless, when it's on my side. Morrolan. Aliera._ I pointed out.

 _They actually like you. Well, at least they haven't tried to kill you, which is pretty much the same thing._

I chuckled silently over the link to Loiosh. _True, I suppose._

Loiosh picked up the end of the light wire with one claw, and dragged it hesitantly towards the edge of the roof. _This is going to get heavy._

 _Be careful. Drop it if you can't support it._

 _It'll make noise._

 _So will you, if you fall while dragging the wire._

 _Even Rozca agrees with you on that point, Boss, even though she thinks the rest of this idea is utterly insane._

I looked over at Rozca, who was staring back and forth between Loiosh and me. Normally, I couldn't speak to Rozca, though we had communicated once, when I summoned her as my second familiar, which really shouldn't have been possible.

There was no speech this day either, but I had a very strong feeling that if anything bad happened, it would be my fault. That was definitely from her, and I did my best to mentally project agreement back to her. This was a terrible idea, but it was the only idea we had that might work.

Rozca ducked her head at me, twice, then carefully stuck her head up over the raised edge of the roof to watch the guard. Her head was many times smaller than mine, and there were birds on the rooftops as well, from time to time. A bird's head would look like a jhereg's head, to someone who wasn't very observant, especially if they had never seen a jhereg.

We had already determined that the guard was a chain smoker. She used it to time her walks around the rooftop. When she lit a cigarette, she stayed put in her chair until it was out. Then she walked around the roof, twice, and did brief stretching exercises before sitting down and smoking another cigarette.

 _She wouldn't be so slack if there was a camera on her or watching the roof._

 _We hope._ Loiosh shot back, agreeing with me, but not fully convinced.

Suddenly, Loiosh took a few clumsy steps while dragging the wire, beating his wings frantically. He got enough air under his wings to clear the rooftop, then seemed to plunge out of sight.

I watched the wire dragging out, my only way to safely judge his progress. The rate at which it was pulled off the roof was accelerating. When almost the entire length of light wire was drawn out, the wire moved to my right a little, and then, a second later, it started moving left.

I quickly rolled over, laying on the roof next to the edge, waiting, and heard Loiosh in my mind, his words tinted by stress and pain.

 _Heavy Heavy Heavy. You owe me. Catch!_

Loiosh shot over the edge of the rooftop, directly over me, and I reached out, not for him, but for the wire he was dragging behind him. The instant my hand gripped the wire, Loiosh released it, and fluttered to a clumsy landing, then fell forward onto his chest, panting.

Rozca kept peering over the top of the roof, sparing only a brief glance for her mate's clumsy landing. She was looking at where the guard would be sitting, visible to her, but not to me. I didn't dare do anything with the wire until I got the all clear, and that needed to come from Loiosh.

I waited, and a few seconds later, Loiosh pushed himself back to his feet.

 _Rozca says no reaction._

 _Good._

I carefully started to pull the thin wire.

Loiosh was walking next to the heavier wire as it was pulled across the roof, picking it up with a claw when the wire started digging into the gravel. Every noise seemed loud to me, but Rozca was watching the guard, who hadn't seen her seem to notice anything. We had about ten minutes total from when the sentry sat until she would stand and walk again, and nearly four of them were already gone.

Slowly and steadily, I kept pulling wire. When the heavy wire started across the gap between buildings, I gripped both the returning thin wire and the heavy wire as I worked, to keep the heavy wire from snaking off the roof at an uncontrolled pace. That much gravel dragging would get the guard's attention, unless she was completely deaf, and she would almost certainly see the two wires wrapped around the telephone pole next to her building, leading over to the rooftop where we were.

Suddenly, the wire stopped moving.

I still had thin wire in one hand, thick wire in the other.

 _Loiosh._

 _I see, Boss. The knot is hung on one of the iron things sticking out the side of the pole. I'll go pluck at it._

 _Be careful._

Loiosh flew, much more gracefully, off our rooftop, and I heard his wings flap as he slowed to land on the telephone pole the wire was wrapped around.

I saw Rozca's head twitch and heard a female voice mutter "Fucking pigeons. How many do I have to kill before they get the idea?"

There was a strange noise, and a beam of light flashed out, striking a pair of pigeons circling over the building next door, possibly preparing to descent into the trees in the central lobby of the building. The birds disintegrated in a cloud of ash. There was an afterimage of two birds on my vision, that I hoped would go away soon.

I did not hear her walking around, thankfully.

 _Loiosh. Did you see that?_

 _I only saw the pigeons get fried, but Rozca says the ray came out of the guard's eye._

 _That complicates things. We can't let her see us, ever._

 _We could just-_

 _No. Unlike home, killing people creates more problems. They can't be brought back._

 _People back home don't shoot death rays out of their eyes, Boss._

 _Sorcerers are almost as bad._

 _They still have to at least point directly at you or hit you with something physical as a focus._

 _Give it up. We're not killing her if we can help it._

My familiar sighed in my mind. _I hope we can go home soon. Things make sense there._

 _Can you free the knot yet?_

 _Rozca says yes, she's settled back and smoking again._

I felt the wires vibrating in my hand.

 _Pull the light wire, just a tiny bit._

I did as I was asked. The wire vibrated some more.

 _Now the heavy wire, barely tug it._

Again, I did what I was asked, and felt a slight vibration.

 _Pull slowly, and carefully. I have my wings wrapped around this pole, one claw on the iron post, and the other claw holding the wire slightly away from the pole. If you pull too hard, you'll break my hip or leg. I can only hold it like this for a few seconds._

 _Damnit, Loiosh, you couldn't just pull it over the snag?_

 _Boss, think about how heavy that thick wire is._

That brought me up short. _Oh. Sorry._

I pulled, very gently.

 _Stop. It's clear. Let me disengage._

I felt the wire vibrate a couple times.

After what seemed like eternity, but was really only me counting to three, Loiosh sent a message. _Clear._

I continued slowly pulling wire as Loiosh flapped back over the edge of the roof and landed next to the wire being dragged off the roof, once again keeping it from dragging to much gravel.

In another few seconds, I had heavy wire in both hands, and pulled it tight across the gap, then back-walked on my shoulder blades and hips towards the legs of the water tower. Tying the heavy wire took several seconds longer than I would have liked. It was hard to manage and very different from rope. I tied an extra knot in it just to be sure it wouldn't slip. I untied the length of thin wire and made a few big loops from it. I'd need it, hopefully, to tie up people.

 _Now we find out if the wire will support my weight._

 _And if the knots will hold._ Loiosh shot back.

I looked at my watch. Handy things, watches, but not as handy as the imperial orb. We still had about three minutes if the guard stayed on schedule.

 _Still clear?_

 _Rozca says yes._

I carefully stood, and duck-walked to the edge of the building where the wires crossed. Two lengths of wire suspended across a ten foot gap, dropping about four feet to rest on metal posts sticking out the side of the telephone pole next to the building across the alley. The posts looked to be well-placed for footholds, and that was probably exactly what they were. I'd be able to climb down to the roof without jumping.

After I crossed the wires.

I grabbed the big loop of wire not connected to the water tower on the roof, and slung it over my neck, so it hung on one shoulder, and under the other, against my torso.

Gripping both wires in both hands, I slowly lowered myself from the edge of the roof, carefully preventing any of my clothing or the loop of wires from hanging on the edge of the roof.

 _So far, so good._

 _It'll be weakest in the middle, but you'll only fall about thirty-eight feet there if it fails._

 _Thanks._

 _Welcome._

 _You really were bored, weren't you?_

 _Yes._

I started crossing the wires, hand over hand, with smooth motions, doing my best not to bounce.

After about thirty seconds, I reached the other side without incident.

 _You knew the wire would hold me, didn't you?_

 _Guilty. I remembered seeing a video of people using the stuff to lift stuff much heavier than a person._

Was it stretched over a chasm and supporting the weight from the middle?

Loiosh seemed a little startled. _Err, no._

 _Was it the same thickness wire? They do make it in different sizes._

 _I don't know._ Loiosh seemed a bit worried now.

 _Well, I guess you were right even if you didn't know what you thought you did._

 _Boss, I-_

 _Hush. I was going to do it no matter what. No choice._

 _Besides, turnabout is fair play._ I sent him a mental smile as I climbed down the telephone pole rapidly, carefully testing each foothold and watching to be sure my clothes and wire didn't get caught on the spikes. _I missed this too._

I set the loop of wire on the ground, very carefully to avoid making any noise, and looked at my watch.

 _One minute left. She's still sitting?_

 _Yes. The cigarette is almost gone though. She's staring at it._

 _Good. Tell me if she seems to hear anything._

 _Of course. I have my eyes on her now. Rozca's watching the other rooftops._

I moved carefully. Lifting my feet straight up, and setting them straight down, no dragging. There wasn't much gravel on the roof, it was mostly a tarry surface with a dusting of rock. I couldn't move slowly though, which still made it a risky approach.

There was nearly eighty feet between us. Sixty along the roofline to the little hut with the stairwell, then fifteen feet along the roof side of the stairwell. Then I would have to stop, less than five feet from her, until she stood and started on her rounds.

Padding carefully, along the roof edge, because the sides of stairs and roves groaned and creaked less when walked on, but hunched over to present a smaller silhouette to anyone who might be on the ground, I rapidly closed the distance to my target.

I made it to the little hut, and put my back to the wall, slowly moving towards the end of the wall.

 _Stop. She heard something._

I froze. One foot still in the air.

 _She looked back and to her right. Now she's standing and turning in your direction. She's going to come looking straight for you. Get back around the corner._

 _I think she has enhanced hearing. I didn't make any noises that I heard._

 _Loiosh cursed._

I stayed balanced on one foot, and started fumbling at my left wrist with my right hand, praying I had enough time.

 _She just stopped and is looking cautious, Boss, she heard something again. I'll try to-_

 _She'll kill you with a look, Loiosh. Don't even think about it. I might live, with Lady Teldra._

I saw the guard's shadow moving towards the corner.

The wristband finally came loose, and I flicked the watch into the air with my right arm extended far enough that the watch would clear the overhang.

The shadow of the guard moved closer. I gripped Lady Teldra's hilt, and prepared to jump forward as soon as I saw any part of the guard.

The watch finally hit the ground, on the other side of the building from me, with a substantial noise.

The shadow stopped moving. I saw it turn quickly, and heard gravel crunch from careless, rapid footsteps.

 _She's turned away from you. Now's your chance._

I took three of the most careful rapid steps I've ever taken in my life, turned the corner, and saw the back of the guard as she reached the end of the wall, and started to turn towards where the watch had hit the ground. Six feet away. I released Lady Teldra's hilt, took one more stride and then lunged with both hands at full extension.

My left hand reached past her throat, grabbing her jaw and forcing her to face almost straight up into the air as my right hand closed over her mouth and nose. Several shots of light blasted almost directly up in the air, apparently not aimed at anything in particular. I could barely see them in the sunlight.

"If you don't stop that, I'm afraid I'll have to break your neck." I whispered, in my coldest, most dangerous voice as I tightened my grip on her jaw and face, pulling her back tight against my chest, and starting to put more and more pressure on her with my hands. It would be almost impossible to break her neck from this position, but she hopefully wouldn't know that. She might think I had enhanced strength. I made absolutely certain she couldn't even budge my arms or hands.

Her elbows hit my sides, her heels struck my lower legs. I ignored the pain and did not allow myself to be moved other than to barely adjust the position of my knees so she couldn't hit them solidly with her feet as I lied again. "You can't hurt me. Stop resisting, or die. If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead. I'm going to knock you out, then tie you up."

The blasts stopped shooting into the air, and the struggles ceased. She tried to say something but I couldn't understand it.

"I'm going to move my left hand to your neck to block the blood to your brain. You will be unconscious in a few seconds, but alive. Nod if you understand, and will not struggle. If you do nod, and then struggle when I move my hand, you die. Let's be professional about this, shall we?"

She nodded. I moved my left hand, and a few seconds later, she went limp. Two seconds after that, I released the pressure on the blood vessel and her mouth and nose while slowly lowering her to the ground.

 _That was almost ugly. She didn't hit anything with her eye beams, did she?_

 _No, but you're lucky her eye isn't in the normal place, or she would have blown the fingers off your right hand._

I stared at her, noticing now what I hadn't been able to see before. She only had one eye, and it was on her forehead. She had two normal eye sockets, but they were smooth skin with no lids. I put my hand over my mouth and nose, and could see my thumb, two fingers, and part of my palm.

 _Definitely lucky. Next time tell me about physical peculiarities, and make sure I acknowledge them, please._

 _Sorry, I was a bit worked up about a few other things, and didn't think about it._

 _Understood. No harm done this time, but we have no idea what we'll run into next._

I quickly walked to the wire I'd left on the roof by the telephone pole, and grabbed it, moving back to the woman and tying her with the wire and strips of her own clothing.

Blindfolding her with a large strip of her shirt, I hoped that when she woke and found herself blindfolded, but still alive, as promised, she wouldn't be crazy enough to randomly fire off eye beams.

I brushed my hands together.

 _Now for stage two._

 _I still think the stairwell is a better idea._

 _It's one of the first places I would put a camera, Loiosh, to see when guards go up and come down, as well as for security._

 _You don't think they will be watching the big hole in the ceiling? People fly on this world._

I thought about it for a minute.

 _All that preparation._

 _And you might still decide to do it in a sane way_ , Loiosh snarked.

I thought about it some more.

 _None of the Undersiders can fly. The security here will be designed in ways that they would try to get in. They would use the stairs if they attacked through the roof, so we won't._


	21. Chapter 20

I looked up, past my feet, at the knot of electrical wiring visibly framed by the hole in the roof above me. Then, I looked down over my head at the trees below me.

 _How many times did I reject jobs that I didn't have time to plan, and, yet, here I am doing a free job, unplanned._

 _Do you want an answer to that, Boss?_

 _No. Just complaining._

I carefully released one loop of the coiled wire in my left hand and reduced the strength of the grip on the wire with my right hand, which was at full extension, a bit below, or above, my belt buckle, depending on your orientation. I relaxed both legs wrapped around the wire leading up to the big wire knot holding me up, and lowly slid down another few feet of wire.

When the loose coil of wire was gone, I clamped my right hand on the wire again, and tightened my legs to help support my weight. Then I looked over my head, through the trees, at the ground again.

"How long are we going to stay here, sir?" The guard asked his smartphone, nearly twenty feet below me.

There was a response, but I couldn't make out the words. The tone, however barely audible it was, was enough for me to know that the answer had been something like "Until I tell you we're leaving."

The guard shrugged and took another long puff of his cigarette. "Sorry, sir, this post is more than a little boring."

More annoyed-superior noises came from the phone. The guard apologized again, then hung up and sighed. "Fucken boring guard details."

The other guard standing next to him chuckled. "I could have told you how that conversation would end, without you bugging Toby about it and getting on his shit list."

The smoking guard was youngish, with tan skin and dark blonde hair. The second guard was older, a coal-black man with some grey in his hair.

I couldn't see either of their faces. That was a good thing, because if I could have seen their faces, then that would mean they were looking up, which would have been rather troublesome. I didn't want to kill anyone if I didn't have to. Permanent death even from mundane injuries is a severe limitation on me in this world.

Releasing another coil of wire, I slid down the wire some more, bringing myself about five feet closer to the two guards standing below me.

"Hurry up and finish that cancer-stick? If we're late again, it'll mean discipline, and this time, I won't cover for you."

"Just a few more drags, Ken. If you smoke a clove too fast, it burns your lips or even your lungs."

"I used to smoke, kid, for twenty years, then I got smart. I know about cloves, but I'm not going to do shit jobs because you made us late on rounds again."

The young man chuckled. "You think smoking is dangerous, but you took a job working as an armed guard, working for Teacher, knowing how many capes are gunning for him?"

"Money's good. Not many real jobs for a guy that specializes in COBOL programming, after Scion. Besides, Teacher has me on retainer in case he needs another programmer. He says his granted powers work better on people who already have some skill that align with the powers."

The younger man looked sideways at the older man. "You'd do that, knowing-"

The older man cut him off. "Yeah. I got kids your age, and grandkids, and my oldest daughter's got good sense with money. I'll give up a lot to see them well-off, with the possibility of a future. Can't be worse than a deal with the devil."

I released another coil of wire, and slowly slid down its length. My head was now about fifteen feet from the ground.

Two more coils, and I'd be within arm's reach of them, if I swung myself a bit.

But I couldn't do that, because the wire was passing through the canopy of the trees in the atrium. Threading myself through the branches silently had been a serious pain. Swinging back and forth would unavoidably make the wires hit branches, causing rustling noises. There wasn't enough wind to move the branches inside the building that day, so it would have been out of the ordinary, and attract attention.

With my left hand, I slowly, carefully, crimped the coil of wire and then folded it so that it wouldn't unwind as I let it go.

After the wire was hanging, unsupported, in front of me, I waited, watching.

The older man looked at his watch again. "It's time to go. Now."

"Fine." Smoker dropped the cigarette on the ground, and ground it out with a boot.

The two men turned in my direction, but didn't look up. As I'd hoped, their next stop was probably the roof, to check on the sentry there. At the very least, they were going to the right stairwell, walking almost directly under me.

 _This is almost too easy. Unless one or the other has powers._

I could feel Loiosh agreeing with me, but he said nothing. He and Rozca were at the edge of the hole in the roof, ready to hop over the top and support me at need. Their immobile heads would be practically invisible to anyone looking up from the dark interior of the building against the jagged broken edges of the hole, framed by bright sky.

The men started to pass under me.

I released my grip on the wire with my legs, but kept both hands tight on the wire as my body started to rapidly rotate from upside down to right side up.

When the rotation was about halfway complete, I released the wire with my hands, going into a rotating freefall.

The two men didn't even have a chance to fully recognize what was happening to them before the toes of my boots slammed into their stomachs with all the force of my body's rotation, and my hips, folding both men over my boots while lifting them off their feet, forcing all the air out of their lungs.

My body was still rotating. I grabbed each gasping man by the back of the neck and pulled hard, slowing my rotation, while increasing theirs.

I finished my fall with a backwards roll directly to my feet.

The two guards finished their forward rotation with a face plant on the tile floor. The crunching noises I heard as their heads smacked the ground made me hope, for their sake, that Teacher had a healer for his people. I knew he'd made an area effect healer for Accord, once.

Moving quickly, I checked them to be sure they were still alive. I hadn't had many non-lethal options for quietly dealing with a pair of sentries while suspended in the air above their heads, and the attack I'd just used could easily have been deadly.

As far as I could tell, neither unconscious man had spinal damage, internal bleeding, or damaged diaphragms. I tied them up with their belts and their own clothing cut into strips, gagged them, and pulled them into bushes near the center of the atrium, then tied them together, back-to-back, around a substantial bush's trunk.

Gagging them might have been overkill. They had both broken their jaws and lost several teeth, but I couldn't afford to be gentle, slow, or slack.

Loiosh and Rozca fluttered down from the hole in the roof, one landing on each of my shoulders as I silenced all the audio options on both phones. I did not turn off the phones, as they might be running some sort of tracking application like Undersider guards did, in some situations.

 _You need to work on your backward rolls, Boss, you almost tripped when you came to your feet._

 _No, I didn't._

Loiosh was silent for a moment, then, in my mind's eye, I saw a psionic replay of my roll from his point of view.

 _Fine. You're right. It's not like I've had enough time to keep up my own practice what with all the teaching of other people._

 _That's another good reason to stop teaching._

 _This isn't the time for that argument again, Loiosh. If someone is tracking those guards by their phones, it won't be long until they get suspicious that the guards aren't moving. Which way to the basement?_

Loiosh's right wing pointed to a large open stairwell on the far side of the atrium, then re-folded. _That's how we got down, but the stairwell might be faster._

 _Or they might not go all the way down. Or they might be trapped, or monitored._

 _You really have a thing against stairs today._

 _I have a thing against being predictable today._

 _Teacher has precogs, Boss._

 _And we haven't been surrounded yet, so he's clearly not watching us._

 _Probably._

I threw an exasperated thought at him. _Agreed. Probably. But 'probably' is the best we've got._

Reaching into a pouch, I pulled out my gold-finding ring and the string tied to it. We were so close to Imp and her ring that I should be able to rapidly get a direction.

I stopped next to the trunk of a tree, and went still, holding the string, suspending the ring. After several seconds of concentration, the ring pulled towards the open stairwell, and seemed to grow heavier.

 _Looks good._

Carefully, I placed the string and ring back in their pouch and sealed it, while I listened for movement. There was nothing audible to me other than very faint sounds of a TV commercial for some sort of laundry soap.

My back itched, terribly. Having no plan made me feel like everything was going to fall into the crapper at any moment, but there was no way to make that problem go away.

The tripwires I found on the steps were so easy to spot that I spent an extra twenty seconds trying to find the real trap, with no success. Despite the imaginary daggers in my back, I had to keep moving, so I crossed the obvious trap without setting it off. During the crossing, my hand stayed firmly gripped on Lady Teldra's hilt, hoping I'd be able to remove her from her sheathe before I died if there was a secondary trap present.

Surprisingly, there really wasn't a secondary trap. That made sense in hindsight, since sentries would be regularly bypassing it.

At the bottom of the stairs down, there were hallways going both right and left. The left side hallway was clogged with debris. Impassible to me, though Loiosh or Rozca might have found a way through.

The right side hallway was where the TV noises were coming from. Imp's ring had also detected in that direction. I moved slowly, quietly, down that hallway, listening for any movement.

The room with the TV had a half-dozen men and women in it, most of them sleeping in reclining chairs and on couches. One woman was clearly awake, watching a news channel as they discussed a story about a cape battle in New York that had caused a great deal of property damage and no small number of deaths. Based on the mutterings of the crazed cape, another of Scion's out-of-control connections had apparently found a host and driven the poor person mad.

The woman wasn't looking in my direction at all, but it was possible that she might see me reflected in the TV screen as I passed the doorway, so I crossed the opening slowly, to prevent a fast movement from grabbing her attention.

As I continued down the hallway, and reached an intersection, Loiosh suddenly spoke in my mind.

 _Boss, stop._

 _What?_

 _The dust in the air in front of you is wrong._

 _Wrong, how?_

 _Some dust is brighter, easier to see than the rest. Bars crossing the hallway at shin, waist, and armpit level._

I squinted, but couldn't see what Loiosh was seeing, and told him so. _I can't see anything wrong._

 _It's wrong. You know my vision is better than yours._

 _I can usually at least see what you can see when you point it out to me._

 _Not at night. We see heat. You don't. I bet they are infrared lasers._

 _I thought you said you couldn't see infrared beams when we tried?_

 _It's not the beams I'm seeing. It's the dust in the beams. Like you can see dust floating in bright sunlight. You can't see light, unless it reflects off something. Same with us and seeing heat. It's almost like bars of ashes from a fire._

 _Shin, waist, and armpit? I can go between them?_

 _Sure. We can guide you._

I looked at the intersection. The tile floor would be so easy to put a trap in, and if there were lasers here, the guards probably didn't go through them. _Probably a trap on the other side._

 _Really? I would have never-_

 _Shut up Loiosh._

My familiar shut up, but projected smug amusement at me as I considered my options.

 _The first trap was so pathetic._

 _It was in a traffic area,_ Loiosh immediately countered.

 _Point. We also know Teacher has some very talented people working for him, and with him._

I pulled out my smartphone and verified the audio was still disabled. Then I made sure the camera flash was disabled, and took a picture. I named the photo 'Where's the trap?' and emailed it to Tattletale.

Then, with Loiosh and Rozca guiding me, I stuck my head around the corner on both sides of the hallway. The laser transmitters were on the right, the receivers on the left. The wires went into the ceiling.

There were two claymores set up, one on each side of the hallway. The explosives were pointed at each other, angled a little inward so they would hit someone standing up to a couple feet from the end of the hallway.

 _That would have been painful._

My phone vibrated, and I looked at it. Incoming email with an image attachment.

The image I sent Tattletale had apparently been printed out, then been marked with red and green ink, scanned, and sent back to me. A note at the bottom said "Red sets off Jumping Jennys. Green is safe. Meeting in ten minutes. Hurry."

There was more green ink than red ink, but not much. There were no red bars across the hallway, so Tattletale's power hadn't picked up on the lasers. That didn't surprise me.

I showed the image to Loiosh and Rozca.

 _Got it, Boss. Ready to start?_

I stretched, and checked all my clothing and equipment for hanging bits, loose threads, or anything that might break the laser beams. I pulled out the dark wax cake and re-waxed my hair before re-securing it with leather thongs so it wouldn't move.

 _Give me a look, Loiosh, make sure I didn't miss anything._

Loiosh and Rozca hopped silently to the ground, and moved around me. _Nothing loose._

The next thirty seconds were slow but not terribly difficult. Loiosh and Rozca easily crossed the tiles, and guided me through the lasers and the tiles. Whoever had designed the trap clearly didn't expect someone to have seen the traps, which made no sense if they were expecting the Undersiders to try a rescue attempt.

 _Tattletale would have been in front looking for traps._ Loiosh commented.

I froze as I realized he was right. It made sense. Tattletale hadn't seen the lasers in the photo, and probably wouldn't have seen them in person. She would have seen the traps in the floor. The claymores were placed to kill her as she approached, to investigate the Jumping Jenny traps she could see. The other traps were real, but only because they had to be, or Tattletale would have been suspicious. If there were more traps, later on, they would be designed to deal with Parian, Foil, and I.

 _I'm beginning to dislike Teacher more by the minute._

 _For being reasonably smart?_

 _Yes. I prefer my enemies to be stupid. Especially when I'm doing something with less planning than I'd like. Unfortunately, I rarely get that luxury._

 _Well, there's organ-guy._

 _Lung isn't stupid, and you know it._

 _He's no Yendi._

 _Neither am I._

 _That's a good thing, I'd probably try to eat you if you were. You're insufferable enough as it is._

Leaning over, I picked up Loiosh and Rozca, so they wouldn't make fluttering noises flying back up to my shoulders. Then I scratched Loiosh's head. _Thanks. I needed that._

Loiosh nipped my fingers without breaking the skin. _Yes, you did. Bad enough to have no plan and no groundwork, you definitely can't afford to be angry too._

I took another picture of the hallway, named it 'Traps?' and sent it to Tattletale.

Ten seconds later, there was a reply, text only. "No."

Moving to the end of the hall Tattletale had just said was clear, I used my string and ring to locate Imp's ring again. The ring didn't feel any heavier, so she was on my level, the street level, not in a basement. The direction seemed to indicate she was directly behind a door at the end of the hallway to my left.

Again, another picture, and again, a negative answer.

 _No lasers?_

 _None._

Then it struck me. Teacher probably didn't care if Parian and Foil lived. They really weren't a threat to his methods of operation. Tattletale was the one who could instantly detect his agents. Imp was dangerous, but he had proven he could find and capture her by the fact that he had already found and captured her.

I took a picture of the door, and got another negative response. The door wasn't trapped.

That settled it for me. I sent Tattletale a text. "There was a trap you didn't see, but Loiosh did. It was almost certainly positioned to kill you. Teacher appears to be actively seeking your death. Use body double at meeting."

The response came back seconds later. "Can't. Only five minutes to set it up. Free Imp, I skip meeting. Otherwise, thanks for warning."

 _Idiot._ I cursed her in my mind, glad she couldn't see me.

Taking a deep breath, and then releasing it slowly, I calmed myself before examining the door. It didn't even have a lock.

 _I wonder how much Teacher feels threatened by me? I haven't seen any traps that seemed to be designed with me in mind._

I felt Loiosh do a double take in my mind. _Are you serious, Boss, you don't see it?_

Slowly opening the door, I responded. _No. Enlighten me._

As the door opened, and I saw what was in the room, I realized what Loiosh was about to say.

There was a balding, middle-aged man sitting in a chair in the middle of the room, in front of a large shipping crate. There was a shimmer in the air between us.

 _Verra's teats._

Teacher was going to try to buy my services, and he had a payment I'd have a hard time refusing.

Imp's life.


	22. Chapter 21

Teacher stood, bowed very slightly, but did not move towards me. He held out a device, clasped in his right hand. "This is a dead man's switch. Inside that container is something that I know you care deeply about. The fact that I cannot remember what it is, hints as to what, or who, it might be, but the specifics do not matter. If my hand releases the switch without a specific series of motions, or if my pulse stops, the explosives in the container will be detonated."

 _That explains why Tattletale would not be welcome, perhaps._ I thought to myself, feeling Loiosh's tentative agreement.

He paused, meeting my eyes. "Stop there, with the door open. Strip completely, including all weapons. Place your underwear separately from the rest of your clothing. I will allow you to put it back on, after your weapons have been removed."

I kept my hands visible and motionless, looking for some way to take him out, but without knowing anything about the field between us, I couldn't plan.

 _Stay back, Loiosh, out of his sight. Same for Rozca._

I could feel Loiosh's concern, but he could see the situation as well as I could.

 _Will do, Boss._

I tilted my head, pretending to be unconcerned. "If I refuse, do you expect to survive releasing that switch?"

"Yes. It will also teleport me to a safe location." I could see that his forehead had a couple beads of sweat on it.

I shook my head and caught his eyes, initiating a dominance stare. "The correct answer is 'no.' I know who I am looking for in this building, and I know they are near this location. If you release that switch and I find Imp dead, you will die, no matter how long it takes."

Teacher's eyes bored back into mine, apparently unafraid, despite the sweat on his forehead. "Perhaps the explosion will be sufficient to kill you where you stand. Do you think I would approach you like this if I weren't confident of the outcome?"

"I'm extremely hard to kill. You've been defeated before. You were in the Birdcage for years." I countered, still keeping my hands immobile as I scanned the room. Loiosh was examining the room as well, from fields of view that Teacher couldn't see.

 _I don't see anything, Boss, unless you want us to try to break through the walls or the ceiling tiles. That'll take time, and he'll hear it. The field seems to go over his head as well, so dropping out of the ceiling might do no good, even if you manage to distract him._

 _Keep thinking about it, Loiosh. Let me know any ideas you or Rozca have._

A small smile ghosted across the bald man's face. "It is good to be underestimated, isn't it?"

"On that, we can certainly agree. Most of the people I've killed for reasons other than money knew I was going to try to kill them, and thought they were ready for me." I did not smile or allow any emotion to touch my face. "If Imp dies, this is the face you will see last, if I choose to let you see me before you die." I carefully enunciated the next words. "Every time I kill you."

I knew I had struck a nerve because his eyes opened wider for just a moment before he recovered. "You aren't removing your clothing yet." He gestured with his right hand, rotating it to make the device in it a little more obvious.

Shrugging very slightly, I maintained eye contact. "I figure I have a choice here. Either I take my clothes off, and probably die, or I leave my clothes on, and you will die if you are stupid enough to release that switch and it does what you say. One way, I probably lose everything. The other way, I lose a great deal, but not the opportunity for revenge. I cannot trust Imp's well-being to you."

"So the weapon that you carry, the one that changes sizes, is that critical to you? At least some of your abilities are not inherent to your body? Good to know." He paused and folded his arms across his chest. "I will admit that this is not a surprise to me, that weapon is uncanny, and is the only reason I did not approach you sooner. I very much appreciate professionals in your field."

"Teacher, stop the small talk. What do you want from me? If you just wanted me dead, you wouldn't have been this elaborate about it, including setting a trap for Tattletale in case she came with me. If you wanted Imp, this is meaningless, since you already have her."

I paused a moment to consider my next words. "If you have any understanding of me at all, you also know that I absolutely will not allow you to use your power on me, and even if you try, it almost certainly won't work."

"I happen to agree, on all counts. Before I go any farther, I would, however, be very interested in hearing where you learned about my substitutes." There was concern in his face.

I chuckled at his expression. "Seriously? Clones with identical powers to the original have been done before, when the S9 went on their final rampage. You were certainly aware of that, though I suspect you might have had the idea before one of you was put in the Birdcage. Given time and equipment, and the ability to create tinker and thinker powers as needed, you would have been a complete idiot not to explore the potential." I smiled. "Every clone of you would then be forced to accept a secondary power, and become a thrall to the primary. Instant loyal army, and every one of the troops could empower each other or hirelings."

Waving my hand slowly, in an unthreatening throwing away motion, I continued. "The timing of when you started doing it, or the different paths you might have taken after that are too complex to bother with, but I am confident that there are dozens or maybe even hundreds of you. Each with the ability to gift each other with minor powers. One interesting tinker ability I heard of was a fellow named Brainbox who could download a human brain. I suspect that this might be reversible as well, so all your clones might update each other and the Primary with what they have independently learned."

"And you still think you can kill me, even knowing that about me?" He seemed both concerned and amused.

I forced all emotion out of my voice. "Yes. If you kill someone I consider a friend, you will die. Nobody on this world or connected dimensions understands how to block scrying or finding, and I'm not going to teach either blocking technique. Eventually someone will discover it through experimentation, but it's not simple, and it will take years before anyone here, other than me, is able to perform on a level that will allow them to block my scrying or finding. I only need a little blood, hair, or a personal object you have owned for a few days, and I'll be able to track you in any dimension I enter. Any of you." I paused and stared into his eyes, hard. "All of you."

 _Can we really do that with clones-_

 _Shut up, Loiosh._

"I see." His brows furrowed. "I was hoping that a face-to-face meeting would shake loose some sort of option that would allow us to work together, but I have too many enemies that you have already either befriended or likely will begin working with, you don't respond well to threats or bribes, and I see no possibility of convincing you to allow me to gift you with powers."

"So, this version of you has some sort of thinker power to analyze possible futures?" I guessed.

"Yes. The secondary power I have today is to see how far into the future the Shepherds continue to exist, based on variables that I can control. Essentially a very limited version of Coil's power, if you've ever researched him."

I nodded curtly. Coil's power had been potent. Coil himself had been an idiot.

Teacher smiled in a predatory manner. "I will also tell you that this particular precognitive power is able to calculate around your weapon and witchcraft to a significant degree. The sources of powers seem to share knowledge at some level. You have taught witchcraft to a few people with powers and exposed others with powers to that weapon of yours, including killing Jack Slash. When I first started trying to use precognitive powers on you, they simply gave me unbelievably bad headaches. I have intentionally been generating powers very similar to the powers of those to whom you have exposed your abilities. Now, some thinker powers that I generate are starting to compensate for your novelty. "

I tensed. "So, what-"

There was a short bit of music from the smartphone at Teacher's hip, and he smiled. "Lung has just signaled to me that the meeting between him and the other Undersiders has started. I'm afraid I have to go now. You have one minute to disarm the bomb before whatever, or whoever, is in that box gets blown up."

Teacher dropped the dead man's switch, and disappeared before the device hit the ground with a clatter. The barely visible field that had been between us vanished.

A beeping noise started coming from the crate, and a large electronic countdown timer came to life, with 00:59 on the screen. As I watched, the timer flipped to 00:58.

 _Time to go, Boss, that box is going to blow!_

 _But why would Teacher-_

Loiosh flew directly at me, and at the last second flipped his body and wings in such a way that he landed on my right shoulder while slapping me on the left ear with a wing and simultaneously projecting a strong command. _Think later!_

 _Something's wrong, Loiosh._

 _What's wrong is that you aren't running away from a bomb._

I turned to leave, and felt Lady Teldra barely touch my mind, with a single word. _Imp._

With that mental touch, I stopped in my tracks after only one step. _Damn her power._

\- Yes, your power. It's not exactly easy to rescue someone who you have a hard time remembering.

\- Lady Teldra and I are always in tenuous contact, which is why I was able to track you down at all, but when I was that close to you, and thinking mostly about Teacher, she apparently had to help a bit more.

Anyway, I pulled out a small dagger and carved the words 'Imp Box' on the back of my left hand, carefully avoiding tendons, muscles, and veins. It hurt, but didn't bleed too badly.

When I looked back at the readout on the crate, it read 00:51.

I looked at my hand. Imp Box.

Looking at the crate again, I pulled out my smartphone and sprinted the twenty feet between me and the crate.

As I stopped, I activated the camera application on the phone and snapped an image of the mass of wires and devices under the readout, which now read 00:47.

I created a message, titled it BOMB ON IMP – HOW TO DISARM and clicked the send button.

A message popped up on screen. "No signal."

 _Verra's teats, Teacher must have a different carrier, or a signal blocker is now active nearby._

 _Give it to me, Boss. I'll send it from the roof._

The readout flipped to 00:41, and I handed the phone to Loiosh. My familiar took off from my shoulder a bit clumsily with one claw gripping the phone, but quickly recovered and shot out of the room at a speed far in excess of anything any bird could manage.

I started pulling every blade out of my kit and setting them out in an orderly manner in front of the crate below the mass of wires and electronics. Tattletale might be able to tell me how to disarm the bomb, but I'd want several tools ready to use.

Looking around, I broke the wooden chair into various pieces. A pile of little pieces of wood, another pile of slats that had once made up the seat and back, and then the legs and seat back uprights.

I looked at the timer. 00:23.

 _Loiosh?_

 _I've sent it three times now, Boss. She's in the meeting with Lung. Maybe her phone is turned off?_

 _Send it to Parian, Foil, and Serene, and spam the hell out of them._

 _Adding them to the send-to list. Resending as fast as it will let me._

00:15

 _Text response from Foil. She's interrupting meeting between Tattletale and Lung now._

00:10

 _Loiosh? I'm going to just start yanking out wires at two seconds._

00:05

 _Boss, got a response. Get ready for a mental image._

I relaxed, on my knees in front of the bomb attached to the side of the crate, trying to clear my mind.

I ignored the timer changing to 00:04

The image I had sent to Tattletale, with changes marked on it, appeared in my mind's eye, projected to me by Loiosh. There were three marks on the image, with writing.

Three X's. Two of the X's were next to large copper-looking bits, and the X's had a line drawn between them. Above that line was two words. 'Short first.'

The third X was on a red wire. It had two different words. 'Cut after.'

I hesitated. _Short, Loiosh?_

 _Electricity, boss, connect the two copper things with metal. Err. Fast._

I grabbed two long, thin knives, jammed them into the copper bits that had X's drawn on them, and crossed the knives together, blade to blade.

There was a loud bang, and something slammed into me, throwing me away from the crate. A moment later, my vision cleared and I found myself sitting on my ass, five feet away from the crate, shaking my head, smelling burnt hair and flesh, and watching the timer click from 00:02 to 00:01.

I tried to lunge forward to grab the red wire, but the electrical shock I'd just received made it impossible for me to properly coordinate. I managed to move a bit in the right direction, but only flopped onto my chest, my hand flailing, at least two feet short.

As I struggled to move, a winged shape flashed between me and the readout. The red 00:01 dimmed to darkness.

Rozca landed between me and the wires and electronics, looking at them curiously, then back at me. The red wire hung from the panel by one end. Rozca had apparently pulled it loose.

I collapsed in relief, my face hitting the floor, taking a deep breath.

 _Boss, Rozca wants me to tell you that she knows, based on your mental reaction, that what she just did was worth at least two cats, roasted, and a can of pepper spray._

I pushed myself to a sitting position and reached a shaky hand towards Rozca, scratching her head carefully.

 _Loiosh, tell her she'll get a cat a day for the next week, all roasted, with a can of pepper spray for each of them._

Rozca bobbed her head, pushing against my scratching fingers, clearly happy with herself.

 _Problem, Boss._

I froze. _What sort of problem?_

 _Lung apparently got a phone call when Foil pulled Tattletale away from the meeting. He left, through the door. Literally. Tattletale says the marks in the pavement outside indicate he was running Southwest. Towards us._

 _Crap. Time to go._

 _You don't want to set up for him here? Take him out?_

 _Here. Wait._

My hand ached, and a little tickle in my brain from Lady Teldra directed my attention to the wound. 'Imp Box' was carved there.

My eyes moved from my wounds on my hand to the crate. "Acknowledge the warning and bring the smartphone here, Loiosh. We can't leave yet."


	23. Chapter 22

I walked quickly back towards the large crate, looking for a way to open it.

 _Loiosh, if I ever get the chance, I'm going to introduce Imp to Kragar, just so they know what it's like to be on the receiving end of an inability to see each other._

 _I'd pay to watch that._

 _We'd probably not even realize it was happening. Could you imagine them trying to work together?_

 _No, boss, I'd pay to watch you trying to introduce them to one another._

 _Smartass._

The crate was made of wood, and secured with nails. One side had the timer and electronics on it. The other side, invisible from where I had been standing, had two big metal cylinder tanks standing next to it, which were, in turn, connected to a couple large tubes going into holes in the crate.

I took several photos, and sent them to Tattletale, titled 'Traps?'

A text response arrives seconds later. "No traps. Hurry. Lung is fast, and no longer in Serene's area of effect."

"Hurry and what?" I muttered to myself.

My hand throbbed, and I looked at the wounds spelling 'Imp Box' carved into the skin.

 _Oh. Right._

I could hear hissing from the tanks, so they were probably feeding Imp oxygen, and likely something else to keep her sedated. I collected one of my heaviest short blades from the floor next to the electronics, and hacked off the tubes running into the crate, then started using the blade to pry the top of the crate off.

Daggers, even sturdy ones designed for parrying, are not very good pry bars.

After a few seconds, I gave up on prying the crate open, pushed the tanks to the side against the wall, and did a spinning kick, landing the heel of my right foot on a plank at the point between the two holes for hoses.

My foot smashed through the wood, and a few inches inside. After getting my foot out of the hole, I ripped the broken plank off, top, and bottom.

Looking inside, I saw an empty chair.

I closed my eyes. _Nothing. What am I-_

Lady Teldra, feeling more awake than normal, interrupted my mental confusion and touched my mind with a single word. _Imp._

Retrieving my smartphone from its holder again, I activated the camera and pointed it into the crate. The image on the screen showed me not only the chair, but Imp tied to it, with what looked like a SCUBA mask affixed to her face.

I reached into the crate, using the smartphone in one hand to guide my movements, and grabbed the mask, pulling it off.

There was no reaction other than Imp's head lolling back and forth. Quickly I checked her pulse and breathing at arm's length. I could feel her breath and heartbeat.

She was still trapped in the box though, and a single plank removed wasn't enough to get her out.

Several pinning kicks later, the crate was about ten feet from where it had started, and three more planks were broken.

 _Boss, we don't have much time, Lung-_

 _Is on his way. Yes. I know. Rozca is watching for him outside?_

 _Yes._

 _What about the other guards?_

 _Gone. They were gone when I flew to the roof with the phone._

I crouched and stepped into the crate, using the smartphone to guide my blade as I cut Imp's bonds.

When I tried to sheathe the heavy dagger, it wouldn't fit. I'd bent the tip using it as a pry bar, so I threw it out of the crate.

Then I grabbed Imp, using the smartphone in my left hand to take a video selfie of me and Imp as I worked to drag her out of the crate with my right hand.

 _Boss, Rozca says she sees Lung. About thirty seconds away._

I lowered the phone. _Crap. What direction is he coming from?_

 _North._

 _I'll-_

My hand throbbed again, and I turned over my phone and stared at it. 'Imp Box'

I shook my head and turned the phone over again, scanning around me with it. Imp was laying on her side, her right hand and arm outstretched towards me where I'd apparently dropped it, her ankles still inside the box. I'd apparently stopped dragging her when Loiosh interrupted my watching the two of us in the smartphone.

I'll never get her out of the building like this, not far enough to get away from Lung. Using the phone to see her, I slapped her hard in the face with my right hand.

There was no response. I slapped her three more times in quick succession, hard enough to bloody her lip. Still no reaction.

I could have removed the drug from her system with witchcraft, if I'd had a couple hours to set up a ritual circle. But I had only a few seconds before Lung arrived. There was really only one other chance to wake her in time to get her to safety.

Drawing Lady Teldra and putting her blade between my teeth, I watched with the phone's camera as Imp's face contorted in unconscious fear, but she did not wake. I slapped her, hard, twice in quick succession. She still didn't wake.

 _So much for that idea._

 _Boss, Rozca says Lung just stopped short, about fifteen feet from the side of the building._

 _Is he moving away? Please say he's moving away._

 _No. He's staring at the wall that he was running at. Now, he's walking around to the front door of the building._

 _Verra's teats. I'm going to have to fight him and try to draw him away from the building._

My phone vibrated. A text from Tattletale. "On our way. ETA five minutes."

I slapped my forehead and dragged my hand across my face. _More complexity. Just what I need._

My response was simple. Since I didn't need to stay quiet any longer, I hit the mic button and told the phone: "Message to Tattletale. Imp on ground floor next to wooden crate. Unconscious. Can't get her out. Will try to draw Lung away. Send me a text when you get her to a safe place."

 _Boss, he's just entered the building. He's still on two legs, but barely fit through the double doors. Rozca says she thinks he saw her._

 _Tell her not to follow into the building until we know where he is._

I briefly stared at the phone that had already delayed me for nearly ten seconds. Then turned my head towards the line of blades in front of where the crate had started before I kicked it across the floor. The special blade I'd had Sharps, the Australian blade tinker, make for me was laying on the floor where I'd left it.

Putting my phone on my belt, I took three rapid steps towards the special blade while moving Lady Teldra to my left hand, almost losing my balance for some reason between the second step and the first.

 _Boss, is there something wrong with your leg?_

 _I don't think so, just slipped on something._

I felt Loiosh rummaging around in my mind before he responded again. _Odd._

Scooping up the special throwing blade, I examined it, and found it visibly undamaged.

 _We'll see how well this works._ I thought in Loiosh's direction as I twisted the hilt to activate it. The blade started clicking, indicating that it was functional.

 _Boss, there's only one way out of here, and it's blocked-_

The building shook as at least a dozen explosions occurred almost simultaneously.

I finished Loiosh's sentence and started running towards the explosions. _By the trapped hallway._

 _You don't think?_

 _No, that didn't kill him. Not if he's already as big as double doors, but it may have stunned him. Stay behind me._

Lady Teldra had lengthened and changed shape into a long rapier in my left hand. To fight Lung, I would need every bit of speed and reach possible.

A shadow exploded out of the smoke and dust at fantastic speed. Too fast to dodge completely. I barely managed to move my head before the piece of concrete clipped my ear.

The impact and my attempt to dodge combined to spin me off-balance. I hit the wall, bounced off, and slid down the hallway towards Lung, on my back.

 _Boss-_

 _Stay back! He's too fast for you in close quarters._

 _I'm not going to just let you die there._

 _Not dead yet, Loiosh._

 _No, you're just stunned, with double-vision, laying on your back and not trying to stand up._

A barely understandable voice growled at me from the dust cloud. "This time, when I think you're dead, I'm going to remove your head to be sure."

 _I have time. He likes to talk, to brag._

Before Loiosh acted, I spoke out loud. "Last time, I didn't know what you could do." I could feel the bones in my head shifting and my vision sharpened. I muttered a silent thank you to Lady Teldra for her help.

Lung seemed confident. "I know what your weapon can do. I also know that you can't or won't throw it. I also know I hit you, and you aren't moving."

"So you trust what Teacher told you? I was beginning to think you weren't an idiot. I'll have to reconsider that."

I heard some clicking and grinding noises. He was picking up something else to throw. I rolled left, and then to my feet. A head-sized piece of concrete bounced on the floor where I had been laying.

There were more sounds of rocks being picked up. "Quite a few tinkers can make lie detectors that work. I hired one and used the device for my conversations with teacher. It won't take much longer before my skin is too tough for your blade to cut me. Then you die up close, if I can't kill you from a distance first. You houldn't have killed my people."

The smoke and dust in the hallway had cleared sufficiently for me to see Lung's shadow, his eyes and mouth glowing with heat. I scuttled around the corner before he could throw anything else at me.

Slow, heavy footsteps moved towards where I was waiting around the corner. "Teacher and I planned this, in case you wouldn't allow yourself to be recruited by him. I know that you don't have another way out, except past me. Unless you have some sort of trick to break down concrete walls faster than I can find you trying to do it."

Lung stopped at least ten feet shy of the corner, and I heard him take a deep breath.

 _Damnit I was hoping he wouldn't do that._ I complained to Loiosh as I ran back from the billow of flame erupting into the corner where I'd been waiting to ambush him with Lady Teldra.

I could feel the skin on the back of my neck searing from the heat. The scent of burning hair was thick in the air too. I ran halfway back to the door that I'd gone through to speak with the substitute Teacher, then stopped moving forward, running in place, hitting the ground a little more softly with each step as I moved close to the wall.

 _Go through the door and close it, Loiosh, loudly._

 _Boss, are you sure-_

 _No. I'm not sure, but I don't see another choice. He's right, I'm trapped unless I can get close to him._

With a flutter, the sound of claws, and a barely audible hiss, the door closed, fairly loudly.

I stood next to the wall, ten feet from the corner, motionless under a flickering light, right arm cocked and holding the throwing knife, hoping Lung wouldn't realize the clicking noise was coming from my throwing knife instead of the flickering lights, which were making similar crackling noises. Hoping that he wouldn't immediately see me, since I was standing in flickering light, surrounded by smoke and dust, and staying _still_.

Slow, heavy, measured steps approached the corner, accompanied by a thickly guttural chuckle. I could feel the concrete floor shuddering under the power of his footsteps.

An armored head at the end of an elongated neck poked around the corner, all the way at the top of the hallway. It remained motionless for a moment, one eye looking down the hallway, then the rest of Lung's body emerged from around the corner. His head was already a heavy, bony mass, like a turtle's, but with teeth. His head and upper neck would be practically invulnerable to blades already, which was clearly why he'd put his head around the corner first. If I'd been at the corner, I'd have taken him in the eye with Lady Teldra, but he had been smart enough to keep me from doing that.

As he emerged from around the corner, I saw that Lung's torso was far longer and thicker than normal for a human. His feet were extremely elongated with gigantic claws, and his legs were starting to change shape, some bones getting longer, others shorter, as his body prepared to change from biped to quadruped. A tail was starting to form, but wasn't long enough to touch the ground yet. His hands had huge claws and his arms were heavily scaled from the elbows to fingers.

As I was hoping, my research had been correct. His upper arms were still almost human-looking, other than being about the same size as my thighs.

With all the strength in my upper body, I threw the special blade, from ten feet away. Even Lung's enhanced senses and reflexes weren't enough to allow him to dodge at that range, especially with his increased size.

Even as his head turned towards me with amazing speed for something his size, and his mouth opened, the special throwing blade buried itself in Lung's left upper arm. The backwards-facing barbs then emerged from the blade to hold it in place, as the taser inside started pushing massive jolts of electricity through the electrodes running on either side of the blades buried in Lung's arm.

Lung fell to the ground with a huge crash, and started to flail uncontrollably, to the sound of clicking from the taser.

"Tasers don't care how strong you are." I chuckled at Lung as I moved towards him with Lady Teldra extended in front of me, preparing to put an end to the matter.

 _That was easier than I thought._ I projected to Loiosh.

Loiosh didn't seem to be sharing my confidence. _Boss-_

Lung, struggling, managed to make eye contact with me and choke out a single word that sounded like "Burn." Then his mouth opened and flame started spouting out.

I burned. So did everything else in the hallway as Lung's open mouth and long neck spewed fire everywhere like a mad water sprinkler.

Almost anyone who has ever been burned badly will tell you that severe burns only hurt briefly, then you can't feel them any longer because the nerves are gone. I didn't have that luxury, because Lady Teldra was healing me as I burned.

Lung hadn't managed to hit me with the densest jet of his flames, but the fringe of his breath at such close range was more than sufficient to burn off my clothing and turn my skin into bacon in an instant. Which healed, and was turned back into bacon.

I was blind, because my eyes had burst from the heat. Stop, drop, and roll wasn't a viable option because fire was everywhere. Loiosh was screaming something in my head that I can't remember now, but through our psionic link, I was able to tell what direction he was in, so I turned and blindly ran towards my familiar, hoping I would hit the door hard enough to force it open.

As I crashed through the door, I didn't hit it clean. Loiosh had apparently managed to turn the doorknob as I was running towards him, and he, intelligently, wasn't directly behind the door. Since I as running directly at him, my right shoulder hit the door frame, my left shoulder hit the center of the door, and pushed through, hitting the floor in the room where I'd spoken to Teacher, skidding and rolling until I stopped abruptly next to the broken crate.

Then, finally out of Lung's fire, I let myself breathe. My first few breaths were accompanied by screams of pain as my eyes, skin, and nerves healed. I embraced the pain and didn't even try to control the screams.

Someone moved behind me, and I twisted, lunging with Lady Teldra forward in a strike, which I halted an inch from Imp's chest.

She went completely still, eyes huge, trembling on the edge of panic, her own blade two inches from my left eye. I recognized the blade as one of mine that I'd left near the crate. "Vlad. It's me. Where am I? Why are you naked? What's going-"

A jet of flame cut through a corner of the room, spewing chunks of concrete, burning sheetrock, and pieces of drop ceiling through the room.

I pulled Lady Teldra back as Imp also withdrew her own blade. "Teacher and Lung captured you, a few more things that don't matter right now happened. Teacher apparently thinks Lung can kill me, and he claims he has precog powers that can predict my actions, so he might be right."

Looking around the room, Imp said, hesitantly, "This is bad. We're trapped. Why isn't he in here already?"

"I hit him with that throwing taserblade I got from Sharps, so he's immobile, but apparently he can still control when he breathes fire, but not what he's aiming at."

The floor shook violently, and more of the drop ceiling in the room tumbled to the floor, some of it burning merrily. I heard loud concrete cracking noises.

 _He's still getting bigger, boss._ Loiosh supplied, helpfully.

I looked towards Loiosh and saw him next to where Lung's breath had punched a hole in the wall.

 _Thanks for getting the door. Seems like it wasn't as easy as I thought._

 _No kidding, but that blade did slow him down. Rozca says that the whole building is shaking. Lung's fire has punched through the sides in a couple places._

"If we don't get out of here soon, the building will fall on us." Imp said, looking up nervously, holding her hand over her mouth and coughing loudly. "Or the fire will use all the oxygen and we'll die that way. Can you sheathe that thing so I can think?"

 _And I can see the taserblade in Lung's arm is starting to melt._ Loiosh interjected, just to make things perfect.

"Sorry, if I sheathe it, Lung might also think more clearly, which could be very bad."

Imp's eyes narrowed and she looked up at me with a puzzled expression. "Fine. I know this isn't exactly a good time, but why do you have a round rainbow rock stuck to your forehead?"

"What?" I stared back at her as she reached forward, tentatively, towards my forehead with her left hand. Her hand came away holding a smooth, oil-shiny, round rock.

I could only stare. It was clearly trellanstone. No other stone had the same variegated color almost like oil on water, and it definitely wasn't mother of pearl. A piece that size, if solid, was unimaginably valuable, literally a king's ransom, or even several kings' ransoms. And somehow it had just appeared on my forehead.

"Vlad?" Imp looked down at the stone, poking at it with blade, not quite touching it. "What is it? What does it say? I can't read it."

I mutely shook my head and looked at the stone again. There was writing there, and I muttered it out loud. "Anoint me with the blood of the dragon."

The whole building shook again, and chunks of concrete started falling like hail from the cracking floor above us, knocking loose ceiling tiles that crashed around us.

Imp's fist closed on the stone and we both looked up at the floor above us, which was heavily cracked.

My eyes swept the room, and stopped on the crate Imp had been kept in. I suddenly realized there was a way out, at least for Imp.

Loiosh picked up on my mental activity, and poked around my mind. He didn't like my idea at all. _There's a hole in the wall that you can't get to right outside the hallway. I can get out easily enough. You'd have a better chance trying to run past him in the hallway, Boss._

 _Imp would never make it past him._

 _But you could-_

 _You know full well I won't leave her here to die, Loiosh, but I have a favor to ask of you if I don't make it._

Loiosh went mentally silent for a moment. _You expect me to live beyond you?_

 _I know most familiars can't live past the death of their human bond, Loiosh, but you have Rozca. I've never heard of a mated jhereg familiar before. The mating bond might let you outlive me._

 _Maybe._ Loiosh was very unhappy in my head. _I'm not entirely sure I would want to. What favor?_

 _The favor is that Lung will probably survive this even if the building falls on him. If I don't make it, I'm sure you, Rozca, and Imp can come up with a way to introduce him to a fatal dose of Jhereg poison._

 _Oh, yes. That could be arranged._

Imp slapped my face. "Earth to Vlad. What did you just mumble about?"

"I'm not sure what I was mumbling," I lied, "but I know how to get you out of here." I stood and walked over to the broken crate, staring at the electronics and dead timer before I started pushing the crate and its contents towards one of the outer walls of the building with both hands, Lady Teldra between my teeth.

Imp looked at me and the crate, then frowned. "How-"

"The explosives they were going to blow you up with if I killed Teacher. I'll heal. There was one second on the timer when we finally disabled it."

Imp stared at me, clearly not believing what I was saying.

I didn't tell her that I could probably get past Lung, but would then be leaving her to die. "If you stop me, then we both die. Unless you can think of another way?"

\- Hey, this is the important ending part, don't hit me like that!

\- Yes, I'll lie to save my friends.

Anyway, Imp bit her lip, and stared at the two large metal canisters that had stored the gasses she had been breathing in the crate. After two seconds of concentration, she coughed loudly in the smoke. "Not another way, but maybe an improvement. At least keep one of the metal cans between you and the bomb, so your body stays in one piece." She looked at me suspiciously. "Can you live through that much damage?"

 _Boss, if you don't take that advice, I'm going to bite you. Seriously bite you._

"Honestly, I don't know. But the metal canister between me and the bomb makes sense. Bring one of them over."

Imp ran to the two cylinders and looked at them. "This one says explosive. The other says inflammable."

I thought about it. "Bring them both, we'll put the explosive one between the bomb and the wall. We want to be sure the explosion breaks through the concrete."

I got another worried look from Imp. "Did you call Tattletale for help?"

I nodded as I positioned the crate near a flat section of wall. "She said they would get here in five minutes, about three minutes ago. We don't have two minutes. My phone is a puddle of melted stuff in the hallway by now."

Imp struggled with the large metal bottle, but managed to get it to me. I verified it was the explosive bottle, not the inflammable one, then put it in the crate, between the explosives and the wall.

A few seconds later, Imp managed to drag the second bottle to me and I set it between where I would be crouched, and the explosives.

I suddenly remembered something important. "Imp, I have a favor to ask if you make it and I don't."

A bleak stare was the first reaction, then she spoke. "What favor? But you better live. I don't like losing friends."

"Rozca saved us both a few minutes ago. She pulled the red wire loose on this thing. I promised her a cat a day for a week, roasted, with a can of pepper spray for each cat."

Imp shook her hear slightly, clearly a little confused, then nodded. "I can barely boil water, and I certainly don't know how to cook a cat, but I'll try."

"The Vietnamese place on Martin Street will do it for you, if you ask."

"Okay." She paused. "Wait. Fuck. I've eaten there." She went a little green around the edges, then swallowed. "Fine. I'll get it done, even if I never eat there myself again."

 _I'll let you tell her she has to bring the cats, Loiosh._

 _Gee, thanks, Boss, I'm looking forward to it._

I handed Imp a piece of wood off the floor. "Imp, the safest place in the room is probably behind the farthest concrete pillar. Get behind it, stick your fingers in your ears, bite on the wood to keep from breaking your teeth, and wish me luck. When it blows, get out, find Tattletale, and see what you can do from there. Loiosh can type, and either Loiosh or Rozca can answer simple verbal questions. They will both know if I'm alive, and exactly where I am."

A stubborn look crossed Imp's face, and she crossed her arms. "I won't leave you if I can find you and you seem alive."

"Lady Teldra is going to be extremely annoyed. Maybe worse than she was when I got out of the grey boy bubble. I don't know how bad she'll get if she's forced to consume my soul rather than lose me forever. You probably won't be able to stay in range of her. Lung might flee as well, and as large and strong as he is now, that'll take the building down. Promise me you will not try to find me. Moving me might actually keep Lady Teldra from healing me properly."

With a frustrated expression, Imp nodded. "Your bullshit powers are bullshit, Vlad. Fine."

Imp then pulled the orb of trellanstone from one of her pockets and looked towards the one door leaving the room. "If your bullshit powers don't keep you alive, I'll be sure to anoint this with the blood of at least one dragon."

Her obvious glance told me she was insinuating that Lung was part of that plan, but I didn't get it.

Imp smiled at me. "Lung means dragon in Chinese. At least that's what Tattletale said once, when I asked her why he had such a stupid name."

The whole building shook dramatically, and there was a loud, but coherent scream of rage.

I looked towards the door. "I think that means the taser has stopped working. He'll recover in just a few seconds. Time to blow this popsicle stand."

Imp winced, said "Bad choice of words," then gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Please live, but if you don't, he won't either. Promise."

I nodded and slapped both my hands on the sides of her shoulders, looking her in the eye. "Loiosh and Rozca will help. Jhereg poison is horribly painful and deadly. Now go, we don't have much time."

Turning away from Imp, I heard her running towards the far side of the room as I knelt with my knees on either side of the canister marked as inflammable.

 _At least this stuff won't burn._

 _Boss, that's not what inflammable means. It's the opposite._

I sighed and touched my forehead to the metal cylinder. _Wonderful. I hate English._

Lady Teldra was in my left hand, against my chest. She had shrunk down to the size of a small punch dagger with a cross grip that I could grip very firmly.

Barely poking my head around the side of the cylinder, I picked up the loose end of the red wire Rozca had pulled loose with my right hand, and made sure I knew where it was supposed to go.

 _Are you and Rozca clear, Loiosh?_

 _We are. I just flew out. Rozca wants me to tell you that she enjoyed hunting with you._

 _Thank her for me, for saving my life at least twice, and let her know I enjoyed hunting with her, too._

 _Done._

Loiosh and I didn't exchange more words. We communed on a deeper level, sharing in a way I can't describe. It was a bit awkward. We'd been in some hard spots together, but I'd never deliberately put myself in a situation where I was almost certainly going to die without some sort of contest of arms or wits with an opponent. Lady Teldra would pull my soul into herself if she couldn't keep me alive, but I could only be resurrected for a couple days after that, and there were no Paths of the Dead here, no sorcery. If I died, I'd almost certainly be part of Lady Teldra forever.

Chuckling out loud, I thought to myself. _I could spend eternity in worse company, certainly. Lady Teldra, in life, was a friend to everyone, she always knew what to say._

Loiosh overheard the thought, and agreed but said nothing. I could feel his extreme worry.

I gripped Lady Teldra tighter, and tried to send her a thought. _Thank you for everything._

An answering thought returned to me, very clearly, more clearly than she'd ever spoken to me before. _Thank you, Vlad, I will do my best, just like you always do. Thank you for saving me._

I closed my eyes. _I'm not sure I deserve your thanks for making you like this._

Again, Lady Teldra spoke to me clearly. _I am happy as I am, Vlad, but remember that you have something to do._

Nodding, I spoke out loud. "I'll count to three, Imp."

"Ready!" Imp spoke loudly, then I barely heard her mutter "You better live, Vlad."

"One." I muttered, loud enough to be sure she heard. "If I don't live, and you get the chance, tell my wife and son I died a good death saving a friend."

"Two."

Imp replied, in a cracked voice. "I will."

"Three."

I held Lady Teldra with an iron grip in my left hand, pressed myself tightly against the cylinder, and pushed the loose bits of copper at the end of the red wire against where it had been pulled from.

The digital readout lit as I quickly pulled my head back and pressed my cheek against the cylinder. My right hand joined my left, both wrapped around Lady Teldra.

Darkness…


	24. Chapter 23

**** POV Imp ****

\- What do you mean, what am I doing? I'm continuing the story. You can't tell this part.

I've been around explosions before, but this one was bad. Worse than it should have been, I think, but Tattletale says that was probably because it was inside the building with me.

I know I was unconscious for at least a few seconds, but I do remember about a second of time after the explosion. Even though I was hiding behind a concrete pillar, it felt like someone picked me up and slammed me against the wall. Hard.

When I woke up, despite my fingers in my ears, I couldn't hear much of anything other than ringing. My nose was bleeding, and I couldn't breathe without choking because of the dust.

I also had chunks of wood in my mouth, and my teeth hurt. I'd bitten through the piece of wood Vlad gave me to protect my teeth.

"Vlad." I managed to choke out, then I spent a second hacking up dust and pulling splinters out of the inside of my cheek while I listened for a response.

There was daylight visible through the haze of dust and smoke. The bomb had opened a hole in the side of the building. Based on the ragged shadows in the dirty air, it had also collapsed a significant part of the ceiling in the room, closer to the explosion.

I heard rubble shift, and started moving closer to the noise, carefully watching my footing. "Vlad, are you okay?"

There was a much louder sound, what must have been a huge piece of concrete, and someone answered me. It wasn't Vlad.

The words were nearly incomprehensible, but I'd heard the voice before. "I will be generous and allow you to live, Imp. This was never about you. Leave." The sound was coming from one of the larger shadows in the room. Lung.

Three glowing points swiveled on a long shadow to face me, lung's eyes and mouth, on his elongated neck. I stopped suppressing my power and adrenaline gave me the strength to move before he changed his mind and attacked.

It only took a moment before Lung started moving rubble again. I couldn't think of any reason why Lung would be digging through rubble, other than to be sure Vlad was dead. Since Lung had enhanced senses, I figured that he might be hearing something to suggest that Vlad was buried, but still alive.

So, I had no choice but to get closer and help Lung dig through the rubble.

\- No, that didn't work very well. By that point, Lung didn't look like a dragon man any more, he was almost all dragon. His hands were the size of snow shovels, not including his claws. If I got too close, he might have brained me by accident, so I ended up just watching him dig through the rubble.

I really, really wanted to run away, but I couldn't. I wouldn't. I knew that most of my fear was because of Vlad's weapon.

\- Lady Teldra, yes.

That fear I was feeling told me Vlad was alive.

\- Oh, even if you were dead, the fear would have continued till Lady Teldra was sheathed?

Still, I thought I knew Vlad was still alive, and Lung clearly thought so too, so I stayed, and watched Lung dig through the big pile of rubble. He was being careful, which seemed a little odd. He was probably hoping to find Vlad alive and able to talk, or something, and wanted to brag at him before killing him.

Even being careful, as big and strong as Lung was, it only took him a little while to find Vlad.

He pulled aside a piece of concrete as big as a dinner table, and I saw a flash of metal hit Lung's eye with a clang.

Lung's immediate reaction was to let the piece of concrete fall again. His head snapped back, then forward again, and he chuckled, deep in his throat, sounding like distant thunder.

He rubbed his eye with a claw, as I watched. He had those funny snake eyes that close the wrong way, with two eyelids. Apparently even his eyelids were armored, or maybe his eye was. It really didn't matter why, Vlad's strike hadn't drawn blood.

After rubbing his eye, Lung spoke in his grumbly voice, "So, you are still alive? I thought I heard you breathing. I told you I would be sure to see you dead today. I am glad I made that promise, or I might have left you again after finding your lower body."

Lung's head tilted slowly, as if he were listening for an answer. I moved closer to where I'd seen Vlad's arm and weapon, but I didn't hear anything.

After a moment of listening, Lung shook his head and carefully lifted the concrete again, craning his head to look down into the hole, like a man trying to look at a wild cat in a cardboard box.

Lady Teldra snaked out of the hole and hit Lung again, in the nose, but just bounced off. Lung ignored the attack, set aside the big piece of concrete, then reached into the hole and picked Vlad out of the hole, almost tenderly.

I could barely tell that Vlad was even a person. His head was half as big as it should have been, and shaped like a triangle, with only one eye.

The whole time Lung held him in the air, Vlad's one remaining arm, the left one, was whipping back and forth, and Lady Teldra hit Lung at least a dozen times, striking eyes, ears, and joints, but never drawing blood.

Lung gently lowered him to the ground, and moved far enough away that Vlad couldn't hit him with Lady Teldra any longer.

Me, I could only stare for a few seconds, in disbelief. It was impossible that Vlad was still alive. Half his chest was gone, and it wasn't the top half, it was the right half. Everything right of his neck and below his belly button was no longer connected.

But he wasn't bleeding. There was skin everywhere that there should have been exposed bone and muscles and guts. Even his head, which was clearly missing a big chunk where brains should have been.

Lung stared down at Vlad, moving his head from side to side, inspecting the wounds, from outside the range of Lady Teldra. Again, he started grumble-speaking. "You aren't even awake, are you? Your throat looks undamaged." After a pause, he sighed. "Zorro, Hannibal, Jhereg, Vlad, or whatever your name is, I give you respect for being one of the toughest fighters I've ever encountered. I've never fought someone who kept fighting even after they were knocked unconscious, but I cannot forgive you without losing face."

As Lung reached forward with his right hand, pointing a long index finger claw at Vlad's throat, I rushed up, grabbed what was left of Vlad's body, and picked him up.

Lung's finger stopped in midair, completely motionless, about a foot from my face as I tried to adjust the way I was carrying what was left of Vlad.

It was definitely time to go, not time to taunt Lung. Especially when I heard him take deep snuffling breaths and saw his face start to get angry-looking.

His head suddenly whipped over and looked into the hole where he had found Vlad. That was my cue to run.

I had Vlad's body held under my left arm like a big football, and was holding his left arm at the wrist with my right hand. I didn't want him stabbing me as I ran away with him.

As I started to run towards the hole in the side of the building, carrying Vlad like I was a football player carrying a ball. Lung had apparently figured out what happened, and said, in a chilling voice that was much more clear than his other recent words. "Imp. You just made this personal."

Lung reached out both of his arms, grabbing a concrete pillar with each hand, and strained. The pillars moved slowly at first, then faster as they moved together. The whole building shook, and I nearly lost my footing as I ran as hard as I could.

Then Lung started swinging his butt, like some sort of happy-dog dance Rachel's dogs might do. The tail connected to that butt hit pillars behind Lung, and the building shook again.

I was almost to the entrance when Lung started to speak again. "I might not be able to see you, but I know you're in here, carrying a body, and you will now be near the entrance."

Looking over my shoulder, I saw a gigantic mouth open up, pointed directly at the exit, and at me.

I jumped sideways, away from the exit, hiding behind a pile of broken concrete ceiling parts as a beam of fire shot out of Lung's mouth, right where I would have been if he hadn't told me what he was doing.

Then he grabbed two more pillars, and ripped them loose.

As I moved to try to run out the exit again, another beam of fire shot out from Lung, blocking me.

I started looking for a really big piece of concrete to hide under, because Lung was reaching for more support pillars, and it was already raining chunks of brick and concrete inside the building.

Suddenly, I saw a blue pony with a rainbow mane jump through a hole in the wall. After entering the building, it was clearly looking around. Parian was close by, but she couldn't see me, and neither could her pony. I checked where Lung was, moved so he wouldn't be able to see me, allowed myself to be visible, and then threw a rock at the blue pony.

The pony didn't even flinch or notice the rock hitting its side. Probably because of all the other rocks falling on and around it.

I waved when its head looked in my direction, and then, it saw me, and started to run towards me.

That's when I realized that there was a problem. I was carrying Vlad, with most of his weight under my left arm, but I needed both hands to keep him from stabbing me or the pony by accident when we were riding. Also, ponies don't have hands. I was going to need a hand. At least one.

Parian was smart though. As the pony approached me at a gallop, it changed shape. Its chest opened up and cloth billowed out like a reverse parachute, surrounding me, and then shifting and changing as I felt myself and Vlad being dragged along. I couldn't see what was happening because I was inside Parian's construct, but I heard Lung screaming incoherently, and things got very, very hot for a few seconds before it seemed like we had traveled far enough to get out of the building.

Then, there was a huge noise nearby, which I knew had to be the building collapsing.

A few seconds of rapid movement later, the construct stopped, and the cloth opened up, dropping me and Vlad on the ground.

Parian gasped, and put both hands over her mouth, staring down at Vlad.

Tattletale said. "He's alive. Somehow."

Foil stared down at me and Vlad, offering me a hand. "I don't think I'd want to live like that."

"We know he can regenerate." Tattletale countered. Then she sighed. "But he is dying. His chemical balances are off. He doesn't have kidneys or a liver. He doesn't have a digestive tract to take in food. He'll be dead in twenty minutes or less, and will not wake before then."

"Is he suffering?" Foil asked, moving her hand to her weapon.

Two winged serpents chose that moment to make an appearance. A very angry appearance. The bigger one landed on Vlad's body. The smaller one landed on Foil's right shoulder, and put its head very close to Foil's ear, teeth bared.

Foil went completely still, except her eyes, which opened wide. We all knew how poisonous Vlad's familiars were, at least to animals. At one point, Tattletale had convinced Vlad to show us. The Jhereg had demonstrated on a pig, which had died in about twenty seconds, clearly in terrible pain. I also happened to know that Tattletale had an epi-pen style antidote made, but did she bring it with her?

Both of Vlad's familiars were staring at Tattletale, and based on Tattletale's expression, she didn't have the antidote.

\- What do you mean, it's your turn again. You were still-

\- Why are you holding up a bunch of paper?

\- Oh, I suppose that makes sense.

\- Are you sure you trust Vlad to read it for you, Loiosh?

 **** POV Loiosh. Read by Vlad Taltos, from a typewritten account. ****

\- I wouldn't intentionally misrepresent what my familiar wrote, Aisha.

\- Well, yes, he'd bite me if I did. That's why he's perched on my shoulder.

**

After I flew out of the hole in the building, leaving the Boss behind, I sent a message to Rozca. _We need to find Tattletale and the others, and make sure they get here as fast as they can._

 _Agreed._ Was the response. _Is there no way-_

I interrupted her. _No. It would be like flying into an oven. We'd die in seconds. You felt what it did to the Boss's body._

My mate agreed, reluctantly, and we flew higher above the buildings, looking for people wearing costumes.

Rozca saw them first, and sent me a mental image of three women in costumes riding three fake horses.

That was when the explosion happened.

We both felt the pain rip through the Boss, and our connection to him nearly disappeared.

Nearly.

After a second or two, I pulled myself out of the falling spiral I'd fallen into after the spike of pain, and felt Rozca doing the same.

 _He's still alive!_ Rozca exclaimed into my mind.

 _But the connection is so weak. He can't live long if we don't get help._

The two of us approached the three women. As we got close, they stopped their horses. All three jumped off, and two of the horses seemed to almost melt and disappear into the third. Parian's horse, the one with the blue skin.

 _We have to tell them what happened._

 _How? We can't._

 _Tattletale can understand us if we make her turn on her power._

 _Should I scare her then, so she uses her power?_

 _Rozca, I don't think you will need to. The Boss called them and they said they were coming. If they see us and not the Boss, Tattletale will know to use her power._

 _If she doesn't, then I should scare her?_

 _Yes. But please ask first. I understand humans better._

The two of us flew by Tattletale, almost close enough to touch her with our wings, and landed next to each other on a car.

She jumped a few inches into the air and then turned to us with her pistol drawn, and scowled. "That wasn't very smart."

The two of us stared at her, unimpressed with her threatening behavior.

 _I think we scared her, Loiosh._

 _You're right. She's putting away the pistol though, so we won't have to kill her._

"Where's Vlad"

I pointed a wing at the building, about two blocks away.

"Where's Imp?"

I stared at Tattletale, then raised both wings into the air, bent at the elbows, making it look like a human shrug.

Tattletale started to turn away to talk to the other two women, and I hissed.

When she turned back, I pointed one wingtip at her face, then bent my elbow and pointed the same wingtip at my face.

Tattletale's eye capillaries grew larger as her power activated. In an exasperated tone she spoke. "Fine. Lassie, did Timmy fall down the well, again?"

My immediate reaction to her being a bitch when the Boss might be dying was apparently clear enough to her that she took a step backwards.

 _Loiosh, I'm going to bite her._

I sent soothing thoughts to Rozca, then a quick response. _Don't. Yet._

Tattletale looked back and forth at us. "Sorry. I'm worried about them too."

Parian looked at Tattletale, then us. "I'm sending Dash that way now. What will I find?"

We quickly described the layout of the building, what was happening when I left the building, where Lung was, where the Boss was, and where Imp was supposed to be.

"You are sure he's still alive?" Tattletale asked me, stupidly.

 _I have a psionic bond with the Boss, Tattletale. Yes. He's alive. Unconscious and very weak, but alive._

"If he lived, Imp will hopefully be alive too. If she's not awake, we won't be able to find her. They both might be buried. No telling how long it will take Lung to find them."

I stared at Tattletale, trying not to think about how stupid it was to say something that obvious.

She turned to face me. "I'm not saying it for me, you little twit. I'm saying it for Parian."

I looked behind me. Parian sat on the hood of a car with her eyes closed. Her blue horse ran towards the hole in the wall of the building.

 _We can lead her to the Boss, even if he's buried._

"Do it, Parian. Loiosh and Rozca will lead you to him if he's not obvious."

We followed after the horse, as quickly as we could, and caught up with it when it was almost to the building.

Then the Boss died.

Rozca and I both went unconscious for a moment. We bounced end over end across the road. I ended up against a curb, Rozca against a tire.

The scrapes and bruises were nothing compared to the hole in my mind.

 _Loiosh? Stay with me?_

 _I'm trying, Rozca, but it hurts. So much._

 _If you let go and die now, I'll have to try kill Lung by myself._

 _Imp can help._

 _Imp might be dead too. She doesn't have Lady Teldra to heal her._

 _I concentrated on the gaping hole in my mental self, leaking psionic energy. I was starting to feel weak already._

Rozca broke into my thoughts, a little panic tinging her patterns. _There's something else I need help with too, Loiosh._

 _What? I asked, distracted by the fact that my mind was leaking, and I would soon be dead._

Rozca sent me an image of a nest, with at least one egg visible.

I jerked back from the edge of oblivion. _Is that real, or are you just trying to convince me to live?_

 _Both. Can I help somehow? Can we use our link to cover the bond you had with the Boss, so you can heal before you die?_

 _I don't know. I'm afraid to try that. If I still die, I might take you with me, then what would happen to-_

 _Loiosh, if you die right after the Boss dies, I will probably will die too. My link to the Boss was weaker than yours, but it still hurts. Add losing a link to you as well, and…_ Rozca paused. …a _s the humans here say, damned if I do, damned if I don't._

I could feel the truth in her thoughts. My mind grew hot at the thought of an abandoned egg, slowly growing cold. I forced myself away from the void, the hole in my self, and reached out mentally for Rozca. _We can try._

Then the Boss was alive again.

Rozca and I both wobbled mentally, and the psionic connection to the Boss smashed back into our minds, like a giant rubber band.

 _What?_ Rozca looked at me, stunned, expecting me to know what had just happened

I wasn't in much better shape. Truth to be told, I was probably in worse shape, but I guessed what had happened first.

 _Imp. Imp picked him up, or carried him, with her power on._

 _I'm going to bite her._ Rozca said, furiously.

 _She might have done it to save him,_ I pointed out.

 _Oh._

 _Let's talk about that later. The Boss is moving, but not awake. Someone's carrying him. Let's see if we can find him before he disappears again._

As we flew towards the hole the Boss had blown in the side of the building, Parian's blue horse, looking very fat, jumped out of the hole, followed an instant later by a huge roar from Lung and a blast of fire that hurt to look at.

The horse lost a leg and was galloping on three legs, burning fiercely for a moment, then it shed its skin, and was no longer on fire. After the fire was out, it grew another leg.

 _Parian' horse ate the Boss! He's still alive, we have to kill it and cut the horse open or he'll suffocate!_

Rozca took off and shot towards the blue horse at a sprint. I wouldn't be able to catch up before she got to the horse. I had to explain what happened with ideas, before she started cutting the horse open.

 _Parian's horse is only holding the Boss inside. It's not alive! It's like a purse!_

 _Are you sure?_

 _Has the Boss ever complained about horse shit on his shoes after spending so much time around Parian for the classes?_

 _No._

Then half of the building collapsed.

I wheeled in the air and moved towards the half-collapsed building, while sending a message to my mate. _Follow the Boss. I'll watch for Lung._

Rozca sent me a wordless mental agreement.

 _Don't cut open the horse._

 _I won't._

When I flew over the building, at first, there was no movement. Then I saw a giant piece of concrete shift. Then it moved again.

 _Lung isn't dead yet, but he's having a hard time digging out._

After acknowledging me, Rozca sent a strongly nervous thought. _He's hurt badly, Loiosh. Worse than I've ever seen an animal or person hurt, and live._

She sent me a mental image of the Boss as the blue horse broke apart and let Imp and him out.

I froze in midair and nearly fell to the ground, again, before wheeling back towards the Boss as fast as I could.

There wasn't much of the Boss left. His head was missing a big piece. The upper left half of his chest and his left arm was all the rest of him that was still connected. Three quarters of him was just gone.

He was holding what looked like Lady Teldra's hilt in his left hand, but there was no blade, just the hilt.

As I arrived, joining Rozca perched on a lamppost near the group of humans around the Boss, Tattletale said that the Boss was going to die.

 _Why aren't they healing him, Loiosh?_

 _No sorcery here, Rozca._

Before I could think more deeply, Foil stepped up, put her hand on her weapon while making a comment about whether or not the Boss was hurting.

Rozca and I broke into instant action, barely consulting each other.

I stooped onto Foil's shoulder and held my head next to Foil's ear, baring my teeth, fully prepared to bite and kill her with poison if she made a move towards the Boss.

Landing next to the Boss's body, Rozca spread her wings, and chased the three other humans away from him, with false strikes.

Both of the other women backed away from the Boss's body.

Twice, I saw Rozca snap at something near her head, before I realized what was wrong. Imp had mentioned on one occasion before that we would strike towards her when her power was active and she got close to our heads, even though we couldn't remember having seen her.

 _Imp is trying to catch your head._

Rozca took off into the air and hovered about ten feet off the ground, but she wouldn't be able to maintain it for long. Hovering is not easy for us.

 _How can we-_

Rozca was cut off by Tattletale stepping towards me. "Stop it, Loiosh, Rozca."

Foil hadn't moved a muscle since I landed on her shoulder. She is nearly as good at being _still_ as the Boss. At least when she has a very angry jhereg clamped onto her shoulder with three inch raptor claws.

Parian was looking like she was about to try something stupid, and I remembered what the Boss had said about her being the most dangerous.

I didn't move, but I did start thinking thoughts at Tattletale.

 _Tell Parian that if I see Foil's clothing move, I will immediately bite. You will not kill the Boss. If he dies, he dies, but you will not kill him._

"Foil was only thinking to save him pain." Tattletale began.

 _He's beyond pain, and Lady Teldra will heal him._

"But Lady Teldra is not healing him. He's getting worse. Stop holding Foil hostage, Loiosh. I promise we will not kill him. As you said, if he dies, he dies."

I looked at the Boss, and felt the connection, it did seem to be getting weaker, and the Boss didn't seem to be growing back. Lady Teldra didn't have unlimited power, she'd been very weak after the first fight with Lung when she had to put the Boss back together. She'd clearly done a lot to heal him after the explosion.

I remembered the name of capes that the Undersiders had worked with before, and thought a message at Tattletale.

 _Get Panacea here, and Marquis. Heal him._

Tattletale looked briefly startled. "I'll try. Let Foil go. It's harder to think when we're under threat."

 _Back onto the light pole, Rozca, we'll watch from there._

I carefully released Foil's shoulder, making sure not to accidentally cut the artery my innermost left foot claw had been pressing against, through her skin.

Rozca was not happy to watch from a distance. _I want to stay next to the Boss._

 _I do too, but I don't think it's safe for us to be on the ground. Imp is still-_

Tattletale was apparently still watching me. "Imp. Show yourself so Zorro's familiars can see you, you're making them nervous. Everyone step a few steps away from Zorro. I'm going to see if I can reach Panacea and Marquis."

When the humans moved away from the Boss's body, Rozca and I landed next to him.

 _Loiosh, he's cold. Too cold, even for a human._

 _Get next to him. Cover him with your wings. Sit on him like he was a nest._

Parian was watching us, and then, suddenly, her eyes opened wider, and she turned towards an abandoned bus, gesturing with one hand, I watched fabric peel off the seats, and fly out of open windows, many different pieces, joining together to create a single piece, which she then had lay on the ground like a ground bird's nest.

Parian looked at us, bent over, with her hands on her knees. "I think you can understand me. I can put him on this without hurting him. If he's cold, he will lose less heat laying on this than he will laying on the ground.

 _It's a good idea Rozca._

 _Can we trust her not to take him from us?_

 _If she does, we kill her._

Rozca thought about it. _Yes. We let her._

"It's like a nest." Parian continued, not realizing that we'd already agreed.

Rozca and I both lifted our wings and hoped off the Boss's body. I looked at Parian and nodded. Rozca copied me.

Foil stepped next to Parian, and looked worried. I stared at her. Rozca stared at Parian. Humans don't like to be stared at, but it's very useful when you don't trust them to do what you want.

Parian made the nest-like thing move a little towards the Boss, watching us. When we didn't try to attack her, she took a deep breath and the nest-thing reshaped itself and curled under the Boss, gently, then cupped around him, covering his bottom and all around his sides and arm, so the only part of him visible was his top, like he'd fallen into a pile of really thick mud.

Rozca and I hopped back up on top of him and settled down to keep him warm.

Imp spoke from a few feet away. "Do you need anything else?" She was digging in her pockets. "Parian, give me your smartphone, so Loiosh can type."

I looked at Imp and shook my head, then stared at Tattletale, who was rapidly clicking at her smartphone, with her tongue barely sticking out of one side of her mouth.

Tattletale glanced up, and met my eyes. "Her old number is disconnected. I'm hacking Dragon's database for it now. Since Dragon's not in this dimension, she can't stop me."

Her eyes turned back down, and she continued tapping at her smartphone for a few seconds before I heard ringing.

"Panacea, this is Tattletale."

"Does it matter how I got your number? You know what my power is, if I want something like a phone number, it's very hard to keep it from me."

"I'm calling because I need to ask you to repay a debt."

Tattletale's face grew angry. "What debt? The Kephri debt. We have a teammate dying."

"I don't care if she saved the world, you messed with her head, and she died. You owe us."

Tattletale was too far away for me to hear the other side of the conversation, but it didn't sound like it was going well. She looked up at me, and I could see from her eyes that her power was active. "Loiosh, if it will save Zorro's life, will you two let Panacea examine you?"

I looked at Tattletale and answered the stupid question while I met her eyes. _Yes, we will. After the Boss is healed._

Turning her phone around, Tattletale pointed the screen at me and Rozca. "Fertile, mated pair of flying retiles with human-level intelligence. Carbon fiber reinforced muscles, bones and claws. Clearly bioengineered. They just agreed to allow you to examine them, if you can save Zorro. They are his familiars.

The face looking out of the smartphone went from looking stubborn to looking very interested.

"Zorro? Those look like Hannibal's pets, but I never had an opportunity to see more than out of focus pictures when we did some intel gathering on him, after he reached out to my father for what was apparently just professional advice about how this world worked for criminals."

"It's a long story, and I'm sure he'll tell it to you, if he lives. He'll be dead in fifteen minutes or less."

"What wounds?"

"Loiosh, Rozca, let Panacea-"

It was obvious what was needed. _Stand up for a second, Rozca, so the healer can see the Boss._

 _Just for a second_ , my mate replied, angrily. She was upset that she had to expose the Boss to cold air.

We both stood up, before Tattletale finished asking us to.

Panacea's face turned slightly, and her eyes clearly tracked to look at the Boss. Then her mouth contorted in a very startled manner as she turned back towards Tattletale. "How is he still alive?"

Rozca and I both sat back down abruptly, as soon as Panacea's eyes looked away from the Boss's body.

"I can't explain how it happened, only how it's working now, and he would be dead before I finished explaining. Can your father come as well?"

"Yes. Is this call originating at your actual device location, or are you proxy bouncing the signal?"

"Why?" Tattletale paused. "Nevermind. Three proxies. Does your teleporter need the proxy data?"

"No, just knowing the number of proxies is enough. Put your phone on the ground and step away from it. I've already messaged my father, and Digitalus will send us to you. Do not break the signal, or move the phone."

Tattletale set the phone on the curb near her. "Done. Please hurry. Be prepared for a Master effect causing fear. It's very strong but can be resisted."

"We will. ETA one minute."

That was the moment when Lung managed to free himself from the partially collapsed building, at least sufficiently that he could yell very loudly. I couldn't understand it, but Tattletale paled.

"Crap. Crap crap crap." Tattletale stared in the direction of the building we had just rescued Imp from. We were not in a direct line of sight, but Lung had enhanced senses, and could jump into the air to look around if he thought about it. He could even grow wings and fly if he got mad enough for long enough.

Foil tapped her weapon with her right hand. "I think that Lung has clearly tried hard enough to kill two of ours that we would be justified in killing him."

Tattletale stared at Foil, then Parian. "Do it, if you can. Delay him if you can't. Try to keep him in the docks area, or in the warehouse district."

Foil turned to Parian, and said "Time for St. George."

Parian looked very worried for about a second, then nodded. Cloth started flying towards her from every direction, out of automobiles, shops, and apartments, weaving and shaping intricately into small, indecipherable shapes as she stepped up to Foil, wrapped her arms around the taller woman's torso in a bear hug, and stood on tiptoes to kiss her hard, on the lips. "You will be careful. We do not know how well your power will protect my cloth from his heat, but we do know he can eventually cook you if you stay close, too long. I have to let some air in for you to breathe, and you can't cover the bottoms of your feet and still walk."

Warning given, the kiss continued.

Foil energetically returned the kiss for a few seconds, then rubbed both of Parian's shoulders as she gently pulled away. "I will be careful. It's about time someone put him down."

As Rozca and I watched, a gigantic, barded and saddled cloth horse took shape from all the bewildering number of smaller shapes of cloth around Parian, and stood there, waiting for a rider. Foil jumped onto the horse's back, and cloth rapidly began flying from Parian to Foil, folding and shaping as it wrapped around the mounted woman. Full plate, a lance, and shield. On the saddle were other cloth weapons.

"I need a handkerchief, a favor from the princess!" Foil demanded, with a huge grin.

Parian sighed, smiled, and gestured. A handkerchief formed from her own clothing and flew through the air to Foil.

Foil reached out, retrieved it, and tied it around her neck.

Tattletale was also grinning, until there was another loud, unintelligible shout and the sound of collapsing concrete from the direction of the building. The ground rumbled a bit, and Tattletale sat down next to her smartphone, putting a hand on it to keep it from moving, then looked up at Foil. "Enough fooling around. I have to stay here and make sure this phone doesn't move, and moving Vlad would probably be a bad idea. Kill him or keep him away."

"Yes, Milady!" Foil saluted with a silly flourish, then her mount, her armor, and all of the weapons started to glow, empowered by whatever it was that happened when she used her power.

Imp coughed, holding out her hand toward Parian, who smiled, and created a long knife for her out of some ribbons and cloth from her dress.

Then Imp pointed the knife at Foil, who reached out and tapped the tip with one finger. The blade of the cloth knife started glowing.

"Thanks. I'll go recon. Don't rush in before I report back, Foil." Without any more fanfare, Imp and her knife disappeared.

Foil turned to look towards where Lung was making more noises as he freed himself from the building, then she turned back to Tattletale. "One way or the other, we're going to have to kill him. He might be too big, and regenerating too fast for me to kill now."

"I know. I only hope that Dragon agrees. I think she will, but-"

Foil trotted her mount towards the sounds of roaring. "Understood."

I checked on the Boss without moving, just trying to feel with skin-on-skin contact. He was still breathing, and I could feel his heartbeat. He was definitely warmer than he had been when we first started sitting on him.

 _When is the healer going to get here?_ Rozca complained.

 _It shouldn't be long. If she does what she said she would_

 _Will she really be able to save him? I don't know how he's alive now, but-_

I interrupted her, gently. _She sounded confident. So does Tattletale._

 _Tattletale says he will die soon._

 _He will, if she can't help, but she sounded like she could help. All we can do is hope. Like when Savn saved him before, when he got a hole in his lung._

Rozca settled down, relaxing slightly _. I suppose so. Do we kill all the humans here if he dies?_

 _Tempting, but no. Remember, the Boss wanted us to work with Imp to kill Lung, later._

 _If Imp dies?_

 _We'll talk about that later, if Imp dies._

 _I'll definitely want to kill some humans, if the Boss dies._

I couldn't argue with that. _We could always try to help Imp learn witchcraft, then hunt down Teacher._

That definitely got Rozca's attention. _I like that plan. After Lung is dead._

 _Lung and Teacher both happen after we hatch your brood, and they can take care of themselves._

Rozca thought about that for a minute, very seriously. _Agreed._

 _Where is the nest?_

 _In the building the Boss has been making us stay in. One of the covers leading into the metal tunnels that the warm air comes from was loose. It stays more than warm enough even without me there._

 _Why didn't you tell me?_

 _Silly male. Why would I tell you? Are you going to sit on a nest?_

 _I might have, if you had asked._

I felt her poking around in my mind, examining that idea of me helping incubate eggs. _I'll remember that, for next time, if there's not a good warm place._ Rozca promised. _You seem to be doing fine right now, but you are leaning a bit forward. He's catching a draft on his arm._

I settled back a bit. _How's that?_

 _Good._

There was a sudden crack, and the air above Tattletale's smartphone suddenly had a fist sized hole leading to somewhere else. Someone looked through the hole, then a second later, it widened, and a man wearing very strange bone armor stepped through, looking distinctly worried.

"Good afternoon, Tattletale. This fear effect truly is bothersome. Has anything changed since you spoke to my daughter?"

Tattletale shook her head. "Imp and Foil have gone to keep Lung occupied, and kill him if they can. He crossed the line."

Marquis' lips thinned. "I see. We will not be involved in the killing adventure, correct?"

"Correct. It's our fight. We only want you to heal the one Lung nearly killed."

A brief hand movement later, a young woman entered, looking behind her. "Hold the line open, Digitalus."

A voice that might have been either male or female answered from out of sight. "I will."

Panacea didn't even look at Tattletale, she walked directly towards where the Boss was laying, looking at us. "If you understand me, move please. I need to touch him to see what needs to be done first."

Rozca and I carefully stood, making sure not to cut the Boss with our claws, then hopped out of the nest, and flew up to a nearby window sill.

Panacea stared at us for nearly a second before kneeling next to the Boss and touching his neck with her fingertips. "What in the hell? Who did this to him?"

I hissed and stared at Panacea.

Marquis turned slightly, and I saw him looking at me with the peripheral vision of one eye, while pretending not to. I'd seen the Boss do the same thing so many times. It was a bit comforting, even though I knew he was doing it so he would be ready to fight us if he thought he had to.

Tattletale spoke quickly as she looked my direction. "He claims to have a magic sword. I've seen him do some things that are hard to believe, most of which give me splitting headaches if I try to look at him doing them with my power active. He escaped from a Gray Boy bubble. He also gives Dinah, Contessa, and Valkyrie's precog ghosts headaches." She nodded up at us. "His familiars are rather impatient that you start healing him."

The healer looked up at us, then down at the Boss. "I can stabilize him by cannibalizing from his remaining arm, but to rebuild him completely, I'm going to need a lot of biological material. Do you have any nearby? Meat would be best, then cheese and eggs, followed by fruits and after that, anything that was alive once."

 _She needs meat, Rozca._

 _Good. Something to do. Being able to kill something would be good._

We both took off.

It took me fifteen seconds to find a cat, but it was a big, fat one. I wouldn't be able to carry it. I called Rozca, and she hit it, breaking its neck after stooping on it like a hawk. A quick cut with one of her claws, and the collar was removed.

 _The Boss won't complain about collars this time, Rozca._

 _Will the healer care about collars?_ She mentally shrugged at me as she struggled to lift the cat into the air.

 _Better safe than sorry. I agree._

Rozca didn't say anything, but I felt her smugness, and ignored it.

I took off, rapidly scanning for anything small that was moving. A few seconds later, I found a chihuahua digging in a pile of trash next to a turned-over trash can.

Hitting the little dog from above, I broke its neck, then cut off the collar, and jumped into the air carrying the meat.

A few seconds later, I arrived back where the Boss was, in time to see Rozca drop the fat cat from about five feet in the air. It bounced once, then rolled up against Panacea's leg. Rozca didn't stay to watch the human's reaction, so I let her watch through my eyes.

Panacea jumped a little when the cat thumped on the ground, looking behind her as the carcass hit her leg. Other than that, she didn't react in any entertaining manner.

I flew by her from the other side, and dropped the chihuahua so it bounced up against her other leg, then flew off in a new direction, looking for more prey.

Less than two seconds later, I saw a cat laying in a window, but it was inside and the window was closed. I swooped on it anyway, just to scare it. If I couldn't find other prey quickly, I'd find a rock and break the window, then go in after the cat.

As I popped over another building, I saw a power line with a long line of pigeons sitting on it. I swooped up behind them, and grabbed two off the power line, one in each claw.

 _Rozca, wing by here if you don't find anything. Pigeons roosting._ I sent her an image of the brace of pigeons in my claws.

Pigeons are so stupid that they would roost right back where I had killed two of them, in as little as a few seconds. Before we had been told to stay indoors, on several occasions, Rozca and I had killed dozens of them at a time, stacking them up on a nearby rooftop until the flock finally fled the area, then shuttling them back to the roof of the building we were living in with Vlad. This flock, however, was small. Even if we got almost all of them, it would be less than twenty.

Rozca sent me an image of another cat she had found. A much skinnier one that was easy for her to carry. She had also seen another little dog, and bit it on her way back with the cat. The dog would be dead by the time she got back to it.

I didn't see any prey on my way back with the pigeons, and asked Rozca to let me know if she saw more than she could kill and carry.

Rozca agreed, and politely didn't send any pointed barbs in my direction that she was a better hunter than me. She simply understood animals better, like I understood humans better.

When I arrived with my brace of pigeons, Rozca had already gone to collect her dead dog. Tattletale was walking up with two cloth shopping bags that she was struggling to carry. Parian was standing cross-armed, looking towards where Imp and Foil had gone. There was a lot of noise coming from that direction, and occasional flashes of bright light.

The first cat and dog were nowhere to be seen. Parian had picked up the second cat, and laid it on the Boss's chest. As I watched, it seemed to melt into his body, and I could definitely see his body shifting and growing back, almost like when Lady Teldra healed him from when Lung first hit him.

Tattletale thumped the two bags down next to Panacea, and as I flew off after dropping my pigeons, I saw that she was pulling what looked like ground meat out of little containers, and handing the meat to the healer.

On my way back to the pigeon roost, I saw a big rat, and grabbed it, then shifted it to my mouth. The pigeons were back, and I collected two of them as well, quickly returning again to where the healer was fixing the boss.

This time, as I approached, I saw Marquis touching the Boss. As I watched as his leg bones grew out of his new leg stumps. Panacea then put Rozca's dead dog on the bare bones of a leg, and I watched the dog almost melt and become part of the Boss. It was very weird looking. I made sure to watch closely so I could gross the Boss out with it later.

Rozca watched the dog disappear through my eyes _. They are healing him so fast. How much meat do they need?_

 _Don't know. Keep hunting till they stop using the animals._

 _I hope there's some left after. I'm getting hungry._

As bad as I felt about feeling hungry when the Boss was in such bad shape, I had to agree. We were burning a lot of energy hunting so quickly, and not eating.

 _We'll get something quick after, if there's none left for us. If you have to, start taking a couple bites out of everything you kill, just to keep moving._

 _That's a good idea. I will._

I collected three more pigeons off the line before the flock left the area, and found another dog that was too big for even Rozca to fly with. I bit it, and let Rozca know where it was, so she could fly by on every trip and take a couple bites of it. I didn't feel like taking the time to kill it with my claws, or waiting for it to die, so I flew back with a single pigeon, hoping to see a rat or stupid bird on the way. No luck.

On my next trip out, I passed Rozca. She had found the dog, and thanked me for it. I took a couple quick bites myself, then flew off in a different direction than Rozca, and found another cat with a collar. The collar was attached to a leash. The leash was being held by a little girl. That made the cat even easier to catch, so I tried to thank the little girl by not cutting the cat's collar.

For some reason, the little girl didn't stop screaming when I removed the collar without cutting it. She even tried to hit me with the leash as I flew off with the cat.

Humans are weird. I sent the images of the encounter to Rozca.

After we both puzzled about it for a minute, Rozca made a suggestion. _We probably shouldn't tell the Boss about this. He doesn't like when human whelps get upset._

I thought about it, then agreed.

When I got back to the place where the healer was working, the Boss looked like the Boss again. Even his head was fixed. At least physically.

The healer saw me approaching with another cat, and held out her hand. I dropped the cat into it. As I passed she said "Stop. No more meat."

 _No more meat, Rozca._

 _Going to the dog then. Starving. Will come back and watch and let you eat in a minute._

 _Good._

Panacea set the cat I had just brought on the Boss's right leg and I watched it melt away, then I could see little bits of shifting and changing under his skin all over.

"I'm just balancing everything out now. I've fixed everything but his hand. We can't un-fuse the bones."

Marquis agreed. "I've never seen anything like it. It's definitely bone, but when I try to act on it, it's almost slippery. I don't remember anything from our intel gathering about him having his hand fused permanently onto his weapon."

"His muscles are also conditioning themselves as I rebuild them, and he's pretty damn amazing for a human. I've worked on Olympic athletes that he'd put to shame." She paused. "But, he has no corona pollentia, and never has had one as far as I can tell."

Tattletale shook her head. "I can't explain it. Imp just calls what he does bullshit powers. Like what we can do isn't bullshit to most people."

All four of the people in costumes laughed, even Parian, who still looked very nervous.

I just stared at the Boss, then moved my head to stare at Panacea, then back to the Boss.

"Give me a second to rest, lizard. Then I'll remove the pain block and paralysis and wake him up. I couldn't have him waking up, screaming and thrashing around when I was healing him."

I nodded, then kept staring at the healer, knowing she would do it faster if I made her nervous.

Tattletale spoke sharply. "Stop being so damn rude, you little shit. She just saved him."

As Rozca landed on the light pole above us, I shifted my stare to Tattletale for a few seconds. The thinker started to sweat, but didn't break eye contact with me. Then I decided not to bite her, and she started breathing again.

She was right. I nodded at her, then sent a comment to Rozca. _Going to eat._

 _Go. I'll watch. They said soon?_

 _Soon. Yes. The healer is resting before she wakes him._

Rozca started staring at Panacea from her perch, and was feeding me what was happening, in real time.

"You say they are human intelligence." Panacea said, looking up at Rozca, as my mate stared down at her.

With a sigh, Tattletale shrugged. "They are smart, but think like six-year-old, hyperactive, serial killers. The first time I saw them, they two of them were having a discussion about how they would cook and eat me. I have no idea how he manages them."

I had to filter words for Rozca, but she appreciated what they meant, and bobbed her head at Tattletale.

"That wasn't a compliment, you little killing machine."

Rozca sent a puzzled thought back to me. _How was that not a compliment? I am six seasons old, I am much faster than humans, and I like to kill things._

Marquis laughed. "You may not have meant it as such, but they were certainly bringing dead animals at an impressive pace to fuel the healing. A hunter would perhaps think of your comments as a compliment."

I had to filter those words for Rozca, too, she didn't know them all.

Rozca hopped from one foot to the other and nodded at Marquis as she sent me another thought. _He understands._

Then she went motionless and started staring at Panacea again.

Panacea and Marquis both laughed.

"The small one killed Valkyrie's Gray Boy ghost by breaking his neck like a hawk on a rabbit, from what Foil said. She was barely able to track him. Carbon fiber reinforced skeleton, muscles, and claws. I've seen them flying at nearly two hundred miles per hour. Their poison is a nasty neurological agent."

The laughing ended and Marquis moved a little closer to Panacea, looking around nervously.

Panacea looked at Rozca and took a deep breath. "Yes, I saw that poison in some of the corpses. I'll wake him now."

\- See, you didn't even have to bite me once. I read it just like you wrote it.

\- It's my turn again though, I think?

** POV Vlad **

When the darkness lifted, there was pain. Everything hurt. I literally couldn't think of any body part, and not feel pain from it.

 _Welcome back, Boss! Rozca says hello._

 _Glad to be back, though, I am a bit surprised._

 _It was close, Boss. See?_

Loiosh sent me a picture of me with part of my head missing, and most of my body gone.

 _I survived that?_

 _Lady Teldra kept you alive. Barely. The healer fixed you with dead dogs and cats._

 _What? Never mind. I'll ask again later._

"This is the second worst I can remember feeling in my life." I grumbled as I tried to move.

A woman's voice answered. "I had to regrow most of your body. I'm amazed that you survived long enough for me to help you."

When I actually opened my eyes to see the speaker, the sunlight gave me more pain in places that I didn't know it was possible to feel pain. But it still wasn't as bad as the pain from the teleport that had brought me to this world.

All I saw was a vaguely female body kneeling over me. Behind her was a very male presence, obviously guarding her. He was wearing very ornate, but extremely strange armor.

The woman brushed my chest with her fingers, and my vision sharpened suddenly. Panacea and Marquis popped into focus, though the pain was not decreased.

"The pain, I'm afraid, will likely keep you debilitated for a few days."

"Pain and I, we're old enemies that know each other too well. I don't let him tell me what to do."

I managed to push myself onto my left elbow. My left hand wouldn't open. "You missed something, I think."

"No, I didn't. Something is keeping me from fixing your hand."

I looked at my hand, and understood. "I see." Lady Teldra had fused my hand so I couldn't drop her. She was missing her sheathe, but was so weak that the fear aura didn't even seem to be making the humans around me sweat.

 _Seems I owe you yet another life, Lady Teldra._ I projected at the barely perceptible psionic connection to the Great Weapon. There was no response. She felt even weaker than she had been after healing me from my first fight with Lung.

Panacea rocked back on her heels and stood in a single fluid motion. "You do not seem disoriented. No memory issues? I had to rebuild roughly a third of your brain, a large part of what I rebuilt was cognitive and memory centers."

I forced myself into a sitting position, ignoring the fact that everything still hurt. "Not that I can tell. I suppose it might be hard to remember what I can't remember though. I'm not sure if Lady Teldra can heal my memories if I didn't die. Never had to find out."

Marquis offered me a bone-armored hand, which I accepted, and used to pull myself to my feet. As I stood, panting in pain, he commented. "I did not expect you to survive, working against Lung. It appears I was nearly correct."

I chuckled. "Nearly so, indeed. It wasn't just Lung though, Teacher was working with him."

Marquis looked sharply at Tattletale. "That was not mentioned."

"You wouldn't have come if I had told you." Tattletale shrugged.

Without any outwardly dangerous movements other than a slight sharpening of his expression, Marquis suddenly seemed far more deadly. "I have been carefully attempting to remain neutral with Teacher. If you have jeopardized that, you will owe me a very large favor, Tattletale."

"I knew this would be the case. I also understand that Teacher will know that you didn't know." Tattletale shrugged slightly. You've just saved one of us for a price that really was not sufficient. I expected to owe you. I imagine you have a fair understanding of the limits that I will allow you to push for compensation."

I stood up straight, and panted with pain exertion. "I can make a down payment on that favor, Marquis. Something about Teacher that I confirmed."

Marquis raised an eyebrow at me. "You have my attention."

I caught my breath. "There are dozens, if not hundreds of substitute Teachers. He's been cloning himself enslaving the clones, and giving them extra powers. He as much as admitted to using Brainbox technology to share memories."

Rubbing his chin armor with a bone gauntlet, Marquis muttered. "So, every Teacher we meet, likely has a second power other than the ability to gift powers? That would explain much. He has always seemed far too successful, even when operating without support from his organization."

"Yes. I suspect the Teacher in the Birdcage wasn't the original."

Tattletale was staring at me, clearly annoyed.

I glared back at her. "They saved me. We owe him. Don't look at me like that. Maybe you could have made them a little happier about it with a different scenario, but I prefer to pay my debts quickly."

"You're right. Sorry." Tattletale shrugged, then looked at everyone else nearby including my familiars, before relaxing visibly.

Panacea was staring up at Rozca and Loiosh, then she spoke. "They look incredible. Bioengineered, you say, Tattletale?"

With a quick nod, Tattletale replied. "Without a doubt. They are nearly machine perfect, almost none of the baggage that natural evolution gives everything else that's alive."

I looked at Panacea, then Tattletale, then my familiars, and in a very low, very cold voice, I asked. "What did you offer them to save my life, Tattletale."

Marquis turned to me suddenly, and Panacea swiveled at the hip to face me with a very sharp movement.

With both her hands held out in front of her, waving slightly with bent elbows, Tattletale spoke quickly. "Not that, Vlad. Just the opportunity for Panacea to examine the two of them. They agreed."

 _It's like she says, Boss. Panacea came here to heal you after we agreed to let her examine us._

There was a thunderous roar nearby, and a flash of light. I looked around. Foil and Imp were nowhere to be seen. Parian was ignoring the rest of us, staring in the direction of the noise, looking concerned.

"Wait. Foil and Imp are fighting Lung, and we're just standing here?" I glared at Tattletale.

Marquis looked up, towards the direction of the noise. "The killing of Lung doesn't seem to be going very well. I think we will depart, and return another day for payment, before he stumbles upon us, and sees that we have assisted his enemies."

Lady Teldra was still in my left fist, only a hilt, and my bones were still fused. I looked at Parian. "Make me a long blade, Parian. I'll have Foil empower it."

Cloth fluttered out of her dress, which was looking rather depleted and plain, forming into a blade in my outstretched hand.

As she walked towards a hole in the air over Tattletale's smartphone, Panacea chided me. "You are in no condition to fight. If you get yourself maimed again, it will cost you a lot more to get my help. I didn't just heal you so you could immediately go get yourself killed."

Sighing, I started stretching exercises for muscles that were screaming in pain. "My friends are fighting. I am going to join them. If that means I die, then so be it. I didn't save Imp just so Lung could kill her."

Marquis took his daughter's elbow and gently offered her support as she passed through the portal, then followed behind her. As the hole in the air shrank, his voice emerged. "Honor amongst thieves, eh? Perhaps we will need to speak again about more than mere favors. After you take care of unfinished business, of course."

Tattletale and I both stared after Marquis as the hole disappeared, then I turned to Parian. "Can you make me some clothing, please? I don't even have any blue paint."


	25. Chapter 24

With a wave of Parian's hand, there was a loud flutter of cloth, and I was wearing a toga made from what appeared to have once been a shower curtain with rubber duckies on it.

 _Boss, what are you doing?_

 _We need to kill Lung, Loiosh._

 _Do you really think you're ready to do that right now?_

 _Of course._

 _You realize I can tell you're lying, right?_

 _I'll come up with a plan before we catch up with Foil and Imp._

 _So, who are you going to kill with Lady Teldra so she can feed? Assuming that she can feed at all if you kill someone with her when she has no sharp edges._

 _You're thinking too much._

Loiosh hissed at me, as if I could miss that he was highly annoyed. _No, Boss, you aren't thinking enough._

Tattletale coughed. "I'm sorry to interrupt your argument, but I agree with Loiosh. You aren't in any condition to fight."

I stared at her, insulted. "I don't think-"

"No. You aren't thinking. You DO remember what my power is, right?"

My hand on Lady Teldra twitched as I tried to flex it, but the bones were still fused.

Tattletale's eyes looked me over, and she continued speaking. "You two would have either killed each other on sight, or become inseparable."

"What? Who?" I asked, before realizing who she had probably been referring to.

"Taylor. But I see you figured that out already."

"This conversation isn't killing Lung, and if we don't do it now-"

Tattletale slashed her right hand in front of her at an angle, from chest to waist level. "We aren't killing Lung today. You don't understand. If you haven't seen him when he's been fighting for a long time, nothing will prepare you for what he can do." She stared hard at me. "You do not understand what it means to stand toe-to-toe with an Endbringer and survive, never mind drive one off."

Parian looked from Tattletale to me, and nodded. "I've been watching through the armor I created for her. Foil can't kill him. He's healing almost instantly. Before the blade even finishes passing through him, it's already healed behind the wound. Cutting his head in half doesn't work either. She tried. Even brain shots aren't slowing him down. All Imp can do is rescue people that get in the way."

"Still-"

"Zorro. You can barely stand. Your magic sword is out of power. You lost all your witchcraft supplies. You have no inherent cape power. If you try to join the fight, you will die." Tattletale's eyes narrowed. "Unless you have hidden some other power, ability, or magical device from us?"

I stared at Tattletale, not wanting to admit she was right. Then I realized something.

 _Loiosh-_

Instantly, my thought was interrupted. _No._

 _I have't even-_

 _No._

 _Loiosh. I know you don't know what I'm thinking yet, because I haven't felt you poking around in my head. Listen to me._

 _I'm absolutely certain I am going to be violently opposed to any plan you have right now that you want to pursue. Sometimes, you run away and fight another day. You know this. We've done it before. We need to do it now._

 _Loiosh. The Trellanstone that Imp found on my forehead._

 _What?_ Loiosh dug around in my mind, briefly. _That's insane, Boss._

 _This whole damn thing has been insane since Verra threw us here, Loiosh._

 _Still, you're thinking that the words on the orb actually mean what they say?_

 _Verra knows I don't trust her._

 _Explain why that means you trust her now. She had to have been the one that planted the Trellanstone on you. It was there for months._

 _We think. Maybe she's here now. Maybe she put it on me ten seconds before Imp found it._

 _Whatever. That's doesn't mean anything, or answer any questions._

 _Look, right before she threw me here, Verra made it clear that the gods rarely speak clearly. Then she told me to be myself._

I could feel Loiosh turning it over in his mind. _You think that Verra intentionally told you that she couldn't be trusted to give clear instructions, knowing that you wouldn't trust that statement, so that when she did give you clear instructions on the Trellanstone, you would follow them because you would, somehow, perversely, trust her because you distrusted her?_

 _Pretty much. Yes._

Tattletale, who had been watching Loiosh and I, made painful noises and turned her eyes away from us.

 _That is utterly insane, Boss._

 _We're dealing with Verra, Loiosh. The insanity is a given. She's a god._

 _You think you've managed to get into the head of a god?_

 _I hope not. I think she set this up. She knows how I think._

My familiar hesitated slightly and ordered his thoughts before firing back a response. _Now it gets deeper. If I understand this right, you believe that Verra knows she can trust you not to trust her, so she gives you clear instructions on a hidden rock, knowing that you would trust the instructions because you distrusted what she originally told you about being able to trust her to be clear in her dealings with you._

 _Exactly._

 _But she also said, and I quote, "Reasons, Vlad. You can't understand."_

 _Clearly a lie. Verra can't be trusted._

I could feel Loiosh growing more upset, and cut off the angry response he was preparing.

 _Loiosh, she told me to be myself._

 _And the stone showed up after you saved Imp. You were being yourself, saving a friend._

 _But what's the stone for, Loiosh? Even the gods don't waste raw Trellanstone, and this was worked Trellanstone. The stone has to be important, and is probably the reason for her sending me._

That stopped Loiosh's thoughts, briefly, then he responded, slowly. _Point. A good point. If there was ever a reason for a god to speak clearly, it would be to properly describe how to use a prepared piece of Trellanstone._

I knuckled my forehead. _Loiosh, if we don't stop thinking about this now, it might actually begin to start making actual sense, and I'm not sure I want to be in the same headspace as Verra, for any reason._

 _And none of that matters, because you can't make Lung bleed right now. Foil and Imp can break away, then we kill him later, when he's not doing his Godzilla impression._

 _The stone didn't say we had to make him bleed, Loiosh._

Loiosh was poking around my mind, examining my idea as I turned to Tattletale, who was still rubbing her temples and staring at me angrily. "Now, I have a plan."


	26. Chapter 25

"What. In the hell. Was that." Tattletale clenched her jaw and stared at me. "I've watched plenty of people making complicated plans, including Accord, and none of them gave me a headache before."

Shrugging, I answered. "I think I might have just made sense of what a god said, while doing so was still useful."

 _Unless this blows up in our faces, which seems more than a little likely._ Loiosh inserted.

I ignored my familiar, which he understood to mean that he could very well be right.

Tattletale stared at me again. "This Verra you told me about?"

"Yes."

"The one that abducted you."

"That's the one."

Tattletale looked at Loiosh. "Does he really have a sane plan, or is it some stupid male ego thing?"

Loiosh laughed in my mind before replying, making sure to send it so I would hear it, even though Tattletale could have read him just fine if he'd simply thought it in his own head. _Definitely some of both._

"You could have just asked me." I objected.

"Your familiars are saner than you in some ways, even if they are hyperactive, murderous twits. Also, they don't make my head hurt when they think."

"You've watched me think before."

"Yes, but today, you are making my head hurt. I've never actually watched you with my power when you've been fighting."

I sighed as both Rozca and Loiosh bobbed their heads, enjoying what they perceived as a compliment, then replied. "Just what I need. My familiars' heads getting even bigger."

What had been barely-detectable mental laughter from the two jhereg got much louder.

Cautiously, the leader of the Undersiders, my boss, asked. "So, what's the plan?"

"I need to hit Lung with a rock."

Tattletale blinked. Her eyes stayed closed for a full second then opened again. "I'm sure I didn't hear that right. Say it again."

I couldn't help but smile at her expression. "You heard it right. I need to hit Lung with a rock. A specific rock. Imp found it stuck on my forehead when I rescued her. She put it in her pocket before I blew out the wall for her to escape."

"Ugh." Tattletale stared at me for about two seconds, then used her right hand to cover her face for a moment, pinching her nose between thumb and forefinger before dropping her hand rapidly to her waist in a clear sigh of disgust. "So, we need to find Imp, who has no phone right now, and get… a rock… from her."

"Yes, that's the first step." I nodded.

While speaking to me, Tattletale turned her head to look towards Parian, obviously wanting someone else to validate her belief that I was out of my mind. "You're seriously going to throw a rock at Lung, and expect it to do something."

Parian shrugged, bit her lip slightly, and responded. "Bullshit powers, Tattletale. Remember, Foil told us that he used his sword to knock her blade out of her hand, and the blow was blade-to-blade, with Foil's power active. He got out of a Grey Boy bubble, and killed Jack Slash inside another bubble."

After Parian had her say, Tattletale looked back to me, clearly wanting me to say more.

I complied, and spoke again. "I'm going to throw a rock at Lung, and I'm confident that Verra expects it to do something."

"What sort of something?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. She's the demon goddess, patron of magic, assassins, and thieves. It probably has something to do with stealing something or killing someone. Likely stealing something, since I can't imagine why she would want to kill anyone here."

 _Then why not just tell us to steal it, whatever it is?_

 _Stop being logical, Loiosh. Remember, it's Verra._

 _Point._

Tattletale paced back and forth in front of me. "Are you saying that you think a rock can kill Lung?"

"It's Trellanstone." I said, trying to think how to explain the staggering value of the material, and the power potential it might have if it actually had been enchanted by a god.

Tattletale stared at me. "Go on."

"I have no sorcery here. I couldn't tell if it was enchanted, but it is nearly inconceivable that a piece of Trellanstone of that size, and worked, would be magically inert. Trellanstone is more rare and valuable on our world than any raw material I've heard of on any of the worlds here. A piece about the same size as the one Imp found on my forehead channels the power of a sea of chaos to allow the entire nation of Dragarea to simultaneously utilize as much sorcerous power as they can manage. Even during wartime."

Tattletale's eyes met mine, head tilted, both hands on her hips, arms akimbo. "From what you've said about how your nation depends on sorcerous power, that's impressive."

I took a deep breath, ignoring the wobbly sensation in my legs. "Frankly, it scares me. I can't even imagine what degree of return Verra is expecting from this. I'm convinced all the gods are insane, but I don't want to think Verra is so insane that she would risk Trellanstone for something unimportant. Whatever this is, it's big."

 _We hope._

 _I would have preferred you agree with me, this time, Loiosh._

 _Not my job. Besides, you're treading that scary path again._

 _What path?_

 _The one that leads to actually thinking like Verra well enough to understand her._

 _Good point._

"So, what's the rest of the plan after finding your rock? You did say you have a plan."

"First, I need the Trellanstone from Imp, then I need a sling, and after that, I need to talk to Foil."

 _You aren't going to tell her the best part?_ Loiosh sent to me, while Tattletale was looking at him.

Tattletale looked from Loiosh to me. "Out with it, Zorro."

 _Whose side are you on, Loiosh?_

I took a deep breath. "Then I challenge Lung to single combat to the death. I don't think he'll be able to resist that. If I try to get close in a street battle, he'll kill me out of hand, maybe even by accident."

Parian scowled at me, and snapped, in a very rare display of anger. "You call that a plan? Why not just ask Tattletale to shoot you in the head and be done with it? Lung is quadrupedal and still forty feet tall at the shoulder now. His fire aura is so intense, I've had to replace the original cloth around Foil with fiberglass cloth, which was not easy to find. Even with that, she's still having to stay away from him for several seconds to cool down every time she makes an attack run on him. I'm not sure you can even breathe unprotected within a hundred feet of him, and I can't create two sets of armor like Foil's, and keep them both repaired."

I looked at Parian and pretended to consider what she said for a few seconds. "If we don't do it now, we don't know that Dragon will let it happen later. Sometimes there's a window of opportunity for a hit that you can't afford to miss." I looked towards the docks, where another plume of smoke and a massive rumbling noise indicated that yet another warehouse had been demolished.

"It might seem crazy, but to me, it all seems to add up. The gods tend to be very good at making fate bend the future in ways that favor their bailiwick. Like I said before, Verra is the god of magic, thieves, and assassins. If she's driving this, using me as a tool, I'm not going to do what she wants by running away."

Tattletale was looking at me with a sour expression, clearly having noticed that I wasn't seriously considering what Parian said. "Are you going to manage to do what your god wants if you're dead?"

"Maybe. Assassins don't always survive a job."

 _Verra told you to live, Boss._

 _How effective would it be to tell me to die, Loiosh? Not that I plan on trying to die._

 _Didn't you already try to throw your life away once today? Could we take the rest of the day off and try again tomorrow?_

 _I saved Imp, Loiosh._

 _Who are you saving this time?_

 _Maybe nobody. Maybe us. Maybe Verra. Maybe all reality. I can't know._

 _So, you're willingly doing what Verra wants, even though you don't know why?_

 _I think so._

 _Is that really being yourself?_

 _I think Lung needs to die._

 _Well, that definitely feels like you, but are you sure it needs to happen now? We know we can kill him later, fairly easily._

 _Yes. The gods don't generally expect their agendas to be completed on mortal timetables. We found the Trellanstone today, after it had been hidden, stuck to me for months. It almost certainly is meant to be used today._

 _You think. It might have been stuck to you earlier today._

 _That's not sufficiently divine, I don't think. Gods like being showy, and doing the whole deus ex machina thing._

 _Boss, do you realize that you're psychoanalyzing gods and spontaneously inventing bullshit logic to justify what you want to do?_

 _Well, Loiosh._ I smiled as the perfect response struck me. _Verra did tell me to be myself._

I could feel a wave of frustration and anger from my familiar, but I forced myself to ignore it as he replied. _Fine. You win. Rozca and I will go try and find Imp to get the stone. If she's doing rescue operations, she has to become visible to help guide people, and she'll be working with Foil._

Loiosh and Rozca shot off from their perches into the air, startling Tattletale and Parian.

"Parian, please tell Foil to let Imp know my familiars need the rock she found stuck to my head earlier, if she sees Imp before Loiosh and Rozca find her."

"As opposed to the rocks that currently occupy your head?" Tattletale shot back at me with a frustrated tone.

"I already have those, apparently in abundance, according to several people I know." I grinned back at her.

** Four minutes later **

 _We found her, Boss, and have the stone._

 _Great. Parian made a sling for me._

 _Can you even hit him with a sling stone?_

 _Lung's huge now, Loiosh._

 _I've seen you try to hunt with a sling before. The stone went behind you._

 _I know what I did wrong that time._

 _Did you practice since then_? I felt Loiosh poke around in my memories, briefly. _I thought not. We're going to die._

 _I'm practicing now._

 _That's not terribly reassuring._

Tattletale was staring at me. "Lung is smaller than that building, for now. If you can't even hit the broadside of an office tower, your David impersonation is going to be very much unlike the parable."

Parian was not very happy, sweating and looking nervous. "Foil can't keep distracting him much longer. I'm running out of fiberglass cloth. Lung is hot enough that he's starting to create puddles of melted asphalt wherever he steps, and heavy enough that he's collapsing the roadways just from stepping on them. Foil can't protect my construct mount's feet with her power."

I spun up a rock in the sling and released it, completely missing the building. "Loiosh has the stone and is coming this way. We need to meet with Foil."

Tattletale tapped on her Smartphone for a couple seconds, then relaxed her arm and let the hand holding the smartphone drop to a relaxed position by her waist.

While Tattletale was taking care of her part of the plan, I needed to practice. This was made more interesting due to my left hand's bones being fused together to firmly grasp Lady Teldra. I had to do everything right-handed.

First, I set the sling on the ground, put a rock in it, then picked up the two lose cords, all with my right hand. Then I spun up the sling and concentrated, trying to get a feel for the weapon, and pretending that every joint in my body didn't feel like it was lined with sandpaper.

After a few revolutions, I released the stone. It hit a car in front of the building I was aiming at.

Tattletale groaned. "Do you really think this-"

I interrupted her as I dropped the sling pocket to the ground and arranged the cords so I could pick them up cleanly. "I'm getting better. Let me keep practicing a few more times and I'll be able to knock an apple off your head."

"If I couldn't see that you are utterly confident in yourself, I'd be ordering you to stop."

"And I'd be ignoring that order, Tattletale."

After a moment of thought, Tattletale barbed me back. "How did you survive where you came from? You always talk about planning, but you don't seem to do it very well."

I turned to face her and met her eyes. "That's a very good question, but the fact that I have survived until now should give you at least a little reason to trust me. Instincts are important. I hate to act with no plan, but even when I can't plan, I trust myself. A god sent me here to do something. Gods do weird shit to reality. I have a very bad feeling about what might happen if I don't follow through with this."

Tattletale winced. "You hurt my head again, Zorro. Literally. Are you doing witchcraft?"

"Maybe that's Verra's influence. I'm not doing witchcraft, and Lady Teldra not touching my mind right now."

"Maybe." Tattletale's phone buzzed and she looked at it. "Foil has broken off from Lung and is headed this way at best speed. ETA one minute. She will only have a few seconds here before she has to go back and keep distracting him if we want to keep him out of populated areas."

I picked up the sling, spun it up, and released. I almost hit the office building a hundred feet away. "I'll be ready."

Parian groaned, and looked at Tattletale.

As I reloaded the sling again, I heard Tattletale say "He's absolutely certain he can do it, Parian."

Parian's voice responded, sadly. "I'm watching him do the same thing over and over again, and seeing the same results. Expecting something different seems-"

"Yeah." I broke in. "I know the quote. Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Spinning up the sling, I fired off another rock. It hit the building. Barely. "See? I'm getting better."

"Are you using rocks the same weight as the Trellanstone?" Tattletale asked, with what was obviously fake innocence.

"Doesn't really matter at this range with a sling."

 _Really boss?_

 _I think so?_

 _Oh, as long as you're sure._

 _Shut up, Loiosh._

The next two stones, I chose a little more carefully for weight. While practicing, I intentionally kept my back to Tattletale because I knew I'd see a smug expression on her face.

Both stones hit the building. Somewhere roughly around the middle of it, plus or minus about half the width of the building.

 _We're here, Boss. Anyone ever tell you that you look good in a rubber ducky print toga?_

 _First time I've heard it. With any luck it'll be the last._

 _You worded that very poorly, Boss._ Loiosh said sharply into my mind as he landed on my padded right shoulder, using his left wing on my head for balance as he handed me the Trellanstone from his left claw.

I stared at the shifting colors of the stone for a moment before looking more carefully, checking to see if I had seen everything inscribed into it when Imp found it.

The stone still read "Anoint me with the blood of the dragon." It didn't seem to have any other markings that held meaning to me. I did, however, recognize elder sorcery runes, which, after the last time I'd played with chaos, had been on my ignore list of things to think about. I was careful not to think about what they might mean.

I held up the stone so Tattletale could see it, and her head snapped back like she'd been slapped. "Ow. Fuck. Zorro, that thing is painfully wrong in so many ways."

I clenched my fist around the stone, concealing it again. "Enchanted then, though I was already fairly sure. There are elder sorcery runes on it."

"If you want to use me as a guinea pig or magical mine detector, please warn me next time. That hurt. Badly." Tattletale groused as she rubbed her forehead with her left hand.

"Sorry, we're a bit short of time right now."

I heard hooves approaching rapidly, but the sound was echoing from nearby buildings and I couldn't triangulate

 _Where is she, Loiosh? Can Rozca see her?_

 _Yes, she's approaching from your left._

I set the sling on the ground, put the Trellanstone orb in the leather pocket, and then collected the strings, lifting the loaded sling as I waited for Foil to stop.

Foil halted abruptly. She was a powerful mounted figure, very imposing, and in no mood for small talk. "I can't stay more than a few seconds, or he'll track me here by scent or take to the air."

"Use your power on this sling and the stone." I commanded, holding out the sling and stone. "I need it to kill Lung."

Foil's head swiveled from me, to Tattletale. "Is he serious?"

"Entirely." Tattletale shrugged. "Like imp says. Bullshit powers. That rock does worse things to my head than his sword."

"First, you had a magic sword. Now you have a magic pet rock. Does it talk to you too?" Foil's right gauntlet lost its shiny appearance as she disabled her power on the cloth. She reached out with that unprotected hand toward me and I moved closer, holding the sling up as she started a warning. "Remember, if you touch the shining part of the sling or the stone, it will destroy any material it touches that isn't already touching it when I use my power on it."

Nodding, I thanked her. "I understand. After you do that, I need you to go back to Lung and tell him I challenge him to a 1 vs. 1 duel to the death at the same warehouse we originally fought in."

Foil's hand stopped moving. Her head, fully enclosed in shining armor, turned slightly, to face me more directly. "You're going to fight Lung in one of his most advanced forms, wearing a rubber ducky toga, with a sling."

"Exactly."

"You're a fool." She hissed. "But your powers are bullshit powers, so I'll do it."

"Thank you." I smirked at her. "It'll be a good story, either way, I'm sure."

Foil finished leaning forward from her mount, reaching down to the stone and sling I was holding out for her. Then she touched the stone in the sling.

Nothing happened.

I looked at her. "Time critical here, Foil."

"I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't." My voice was rock steady, not even a quiver of concern.

She touched the stone again. "I can't use my power on it. I can feel it there, with my fingers, but my power can't connect to it."

I turned to Tattletale. "Time for plan B."

Tattletale sighed. "Plan B is running away, isn't it?"

Nodding, I agreed. "Yes. Without Foil's power on the stone, it can't penetrate his body."

 _Boss, we have a problem._

 _We have lots of problems. What's the new problem, Loiosh?_

 _Rozca says Lung just took off, and he's flying a search pattern._

 _Verra's teats._

 _If she's listening, is it really a good idea to be cursing her?_

 _She's used to it by now. How likely do you think-_

 _Very. He saw Rozca and me the first night. He'll see you now, almost certainly. There's not enough smoke and flashing lights to confuse his vision, and the light from Foil's armor is very distinctive._

I saw a huge shape approaching our group at an angle through the smoke of several burning buildings. Wings nearly two hundred feet across held Lung's stupendous reptilian form in the air with deceptive ease. Each beat of the wings brought the sounds of windows breaking and wreckage being stirred by torrential winds.

"Don't move." I hissed.

Everyone went completely still.

After about a second, Tattletale slumped. "Enhanced senses. He saw us."

As Tattletale spoke, Lung's shape moved with absurd grace for a body longer than a city bus, not including the long neck and longer tail.

"Shit. We're fucked." Foil cursed.

"I'm almost tapped out, and there's nothing fireproof nearby other than what Foil is using." Parian sighed.

Tattletale stepped forward, past me, projecting her voice, though it was probably unnecessary. "Lung. We need to talk."

The sound that came back from Lung was not encouraging. Thunder with an undercurrent of laughter.

With impossible grace and speed for the largest living thing I'd ever seen, Lung maneuvered himself for a landing on the four-lane street. He folded his wings so he would fit between the buildings, and fell the last forty feet to the ground.

The roadway cracked and buckled.

Tattletale fell to one knee, balancing herself with a hand to either side of her.

Parian stumbled and would have fallen if she hadn't used one hand to grab a street sign next to her.

Foil, her mount immobile because Parian was stunned, leapt off her shiny cloth horse and ran to get between Lung and the rest of the group.

I had jumped into the air as Lung hit the ground. My feet returned to the ground again after the worst of the shockwave had passed. I still wobbled a bit, but not enough to endanger my balance.

A wave of hot air displaced by Lung's landing dried and tightened my skin painfully, and it was hard to breathe.

Loiosh and Rozca had hidden themselves out of Lung's view, and Loiosh was extremely concerned.

 _Boss, is there a plan C?_

I stared at the draconian mouth opening wide, no more than fifty feet from us, and saw the glow from inside that mouth growing more intense.

 _I'm working on it, Loiosh, I'm working on it._


	27. Chapter 26

I moved two steps closer to Parian, and whispered.

"Parian, make a lawn dart around the stone please. With holes in it so I can see the stone."

Parian stared at me, uncomprehending for about a half-second, then closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and the sling reformed itself into a large dart with the Trellanstone mounted inside.

Turning towards Lung I yelled as loudly as I could despite the searing heat of the air. "I challenge you to single combat."

Lung's mouth snapped shut, and his enormous head tilted inhumanly fast, somehow reminding me of a chicken looking at a bug.

Both of his eyes locked onto me. I couldn't see any emotion there, but I understood Bushido, because I had studied it to learn how Lung thought.

 _Uh. Boss. Shouldn't Plan C include running away?_

 _No, that was plan B, remember?_

 _Ah, so Plan C is to make Lung die of laughter?_

 _That would be nice, but seems unlikely._

Loiosh was poking around in my head again, looking at plan C. _That might work if you really understand him well enough to convince him to fight you. Provided that plan A would have worked._

 _Seems to be about the only thing left to try. Stay out of the way. Finish the job if I don't._

There wasn't enough time for a lot of back and forth, so Loiosh simply offered me a small measure of psionic strength, which helped stabilize my thoughts, and would hopefully improve my coordination.

I could also feel a second trickle of power, originating from Rozca, who had to have been concentrating strongly to send me anything at all. My connection to her was far more tenuous than mine and Loiosh's.

 _Thank you, Loiosh, and Rozca._

"We have never fought when we were both prepared to fight." I spoke, in a normal tone, trusting Lung to be able to hear over the sounds of nearby fires and falling brick and stone.

"He doesn't trust you." Tattletale whispered.

 _Definitely smarter than I thought._ Loiosh commented, almost making me start laughing.

"You are in control of this battlefield Lung." I waved my left hand in an arc. "It's clear to anyone with a brain that you can win this battle. We are in poor position. At best, Parian can try to defend us passively until help gets here. And we haven't called for help."

In a very rapid movement, Foil turned to stare back at me, briefly, before looking back at Lung.

Parian groaned, and I heard her whisper "Idiot."

Tattletale finished standing, and stepped closer to me. "He agrees with you, but doesn't see the point. Either with us, or by yourself, he can kill you. Why should he grant you the honor of single combat when that would either allow some of the rest of us to possibly escape, or reduce his honor by splitting us into a less powerful groups?"

"Lung, my power is enhanced by absolute belief in myself. Alone, in single combat, I cannot be defeated. However, if I fight with friends, I am weakened and distracted by my concern for them."

"You definitely got his attention, he's considering it." Tattletale muttered.

I stared at Tattletale and thought. _Do not call me on the lie out loud. If you do, we all die._

Tattletale winced, swallowed, and then nodded.

Lung was impulsive, but not stupid. I needed to keep him from thinking too deeply, because I had been alone both times we had fought before. "Your power is affected by your mental state, is it not, Lung? You are more powerful when you haven't fought for a long time, and have been anticipating a fight? Is it that difficult to believe that my power might be partly mental as well? Allow me to fight you, in single combat, unless you simply want an easy, empty victory. A victory with no honor, since I have revealed how my power works to you, and you would be intentionally fighting me when I am weakened."

I didn't need Tattletale's help to understand Lung's response. His eyes locked onto me, and one foreleg lifted in my direction. A single digit, with a claw that was larger than my entire body gestured, indicating that I should approach, then his hand slammed to the ground, palm-down in front of him. He took several steps back from where his palm had left a crater in the roadway, and stared at me intently.

"That did it." Tattletale muttered. She looked at me again, and winced, saying nothing.

I walked forward, close to Foil, holding out the rigid cloth lawn dart that Parian had made for me. "Just the tip please, barely past the holes."

Foil hesitated, then her right gauntlet stopped shimmering. She reached out to the dart and empowered the front half of the weapon, up to where the holes ended.

She started to offer me her sword, then her eyes moved to my fused left hand. "That's not going to work, is it?"

I shook my head, and raised the dart between us, carefully. I could see the Trellanstone held in the point of the dart. As I had hoped, like Lady Teldra, it had not been destroyed by Foil's power. "I only need one weapon."

Foils tone of voice said 'You're going to die.' as she said the actual words "Good luck, Zorro."

I flipped the dart into the air jauntily and caught it again by the shaft, judging its balance. "Won't need luck."

 _That's a lawn dart, not a war dart, Boss._

 _A dart is a dart, Loiosh. It has a pointy end. I'll make it work._

Imp appeared, next to Tattletale, and started whispering in the shorter woman's ear. I couldn't hear what was being said, but there was a very good chance that Lung could, which could easily ruin everything.

"Don't interfere, Imp. This is between Lung and I. I'm deadly serious. You could kill all of us if you interfere and weaken me."

Imp glared at me.

Tattletale tried to stare at me, but winced again. "Do what he says, Imp. No interference. Foil, depower your armor and your mount. Parian, bubble us as best you can."

Foil's armor and her cloth mount standing motionless nearby lost their shimmer and there was an explosion of cloth as the other Undersiders stepped close together, and a bubble of cloth surrounded them.

When the cloth stopped moving, the bubble changed color from patchwork to Foil-empowered shininess. It wouldn't save them from Lung, not if Foil didn't empower the bottom of it. Even then, I wasn't sure what might happen if she did, though I was fairly confident it would fall into the Earth like it was falling through air. Dying to Lung cooking them through the air and ground wouldn't be much different than dying at the core of the Earth, though creating a volcano in Brockton Bay would deny Lung the city, after a fashion.

I tossed the dart into the air again, watching it flip end-over-end before catching it again. Seeing the center of balance was almost as important to me as feeling it. Especially since Parian had absolutely no idea at all how to balance a thrown weapon.

While I walked towards the dragon's palm crater in the road, I took careful, shallow breaths to keep from scorching my lungs. On each exhale, I whistled a little bit of a jaunty tune.

It wouldn't do to appear to be as worried as I was.

 _Nothing to worry about, Boss. You're just fighting a guy that can ignore Great Weapons, but you have a secret weapon. A shiny rock in a lawn dart. Victory is clearly imminent._

I smiled. _Loiosh, is that really one of the last things that you want to say to me?_

 _If I act like you're going to die, you'll probably live, just to spite me._

 _Doesn't telling me that sort of defeat the purpose?_

 _Probably not. You're almost as bad as we agree Verra is. I live partly in your head, and I still can't follow your logic sometimes._

Sending an exaggerated sigh in mental response, I followed it with thoughts. _And now, you insult me. You didn't expect me to die in bed, did you? Your mother did say I would be a hunter._

 _I'm fairly sure she didn't mean dragons. At least not this type of dragon._

I stepped up to the crater in the asphalt, and stared at it. Lung's palm was twice as long as I was tall, and a little wider than my height. That didn't include the claws.

I gathered my mental strength and broadcast a thought. _Verra, I don't know if this is what you intended, but I'm not praying to you. If you want stupid god tricks to happen, then you make them happen._

 _Wasn't that-_

 _I interrupted before Loiosh could finish the thought. No, it wasn't._

Lung was staring at me. His head was roughly thirty feet in the air, at the end of a neck nearly twenty feet long. The neck was curved back on itself, looking like a cobra ready to strike. His head was cocked slightly.

He really did look like a dragon. One of the ones from this world's mythology, not a real dragon from my world. If I hadn't been in a fighting mood, I might have been scared.

"So, how do you want to start this, Lung?" The fight needed to happen quickly. He had moved away from where he had landed, but I had moved closer to stand where he had directed me to. I was too close to him to survive long, even if he didn't attack me I'd cook to death in a couple minutes. I had already stopped sweating, the rubber ducky toga was threatening to melt itself onto my skin, and could barely speak without croaking.

The immense being in front of me grunted, picked up a motorcycle between two fingers, and pantomimed dropping it, then tilted his head slightly, inviting me to respond.

"When the motorcycle hits the ground, we fight?"

The enormous head nodded, and I saw him draw a huge breath, preparing to breathe fire. Fire that I couldn't possibly survive this time. Despite Tattletale's statements earlier, I did think I had an idea what it took to fight an Endbringer, and I damn well didn't have it.

Lung lifted the motorcycle about thirty feet into the air, held to the side. It was very unlikely it would bounce and hit me, but I made a note to watch for it.

I put almost all of my attention on Lung's eyes as the two fingers gripping the vehicle released their grip. If he chose to attack early, I probably wouldn't be fast enough to do anything, but if I watched his eyes, I might see an attack coming.

As the motorcycle fell through the air, I kept watching Lung's eyes.

When the motorcycle was less than ten feet from the ground, Lung blinked, and I threw the dart with all of my strength.

\- What? I'm an assassin, not a warrior.

Lung's blink barely lasted long enough for me to start moving, but when his eyes opened, it took him just a tiny fraction of a second to see that I was cheating, and begin to react himself.

I had aimed at the center of his chest, but he still nearly dodged the dart. The only reason I managed to hit him, despite his titanic size, was because the roadway simply didn't give him enough traction to get out of the way.

Four gigantic claws trenched the roadway as Lung attempted to avoid the dart. He had clearly been listening to me preparing the weapon with Parian and Foil, and was respecting me enough to believe it was dangerous, even to him.

After only a brief moment, it became clear that he could not dodge the dart. While I was running for cover, I was desperately hoping Lung was right to fear, because I certainly had no idea what it might do, if anything.

At the last moment, Lung's mouth opened and a beam of light as bright as the sun tore a black strip across my vision. Apparently, in a last ditch attempt to avoid being hit, Lung had used his breath weapon on the dart, to burn it in the air.

I never saw the dart hit Lung, because it's really hard to see anything when you have no vision in the center of your visual field, and I hadn't yet consciously shifted to using my peripheral vision as my active primary source of vision.

\- Yes, I can really do that. Sorcerous lightning and flash spells can damage vision. I've blinded myself more times than I care to think about while practicing how to kill people who might try to blind me with flashes of light.

Being on fire didn't help much either. The breath weapon hadn't been aimed at me, but I was unprotected, and everything flammable… no, wait, inflammable, within fifty feet or so of Lung instantly burst into flame. I am apparently inflammable. Rubber ducky bath curtains also burn quite nicely.

I stopped, dropped, and rolled into an alleyway, ripping off the flaming ducky toga and slapping out the fire in my hair.

It didn't matter that I was still mostly functional. There was no crash of a multi-ton body striking the ground, which meant I was going to die in a few seconds, as soon as Lung found me.

While I was laying on my back, trying to catch my breath, while also trying not to breathe in too much scorching air, and coking my lungs, I started a final conversation with Loiosh.

 _It was a good run, Loiosh. You and Rozca take good care of the little one._

 _You knew when I didn't?_

 _I saw her flying into the ventilation shafts with old rags, twigs, and grass. Didn't take much of a genius to figure that one out. Finish this for me when he's mostly human again._

 _We will. I'll bite Verra for you too, after the little one leaves the nest. Even if it doesn't kill her, she'll probably not like it._

 _Don't. Please. If you can live past me, don't throw it away spitting in the eyes of a god. And do not even consider helping me here. You need to live. Rozca doesn't understand people well enough to survive here and she won't abandon the nest._

Loiosh went silent for a moment. _Understood._

My vision cleared, and I slowly levered myself to my feet, stumbling at first.

Leaning against the wall of the alley, I looked around the corner. I hadn't been trying to be quiet, so I was expecting to die a very brutal death at any moment, but I wasn't in any condition to run.

Lung wasn't where I'd left him.

Nor was there any sign of where he'd gone. I'd already seen what happened to everything near him when he flew, and even when I was on fire, I wouldn't have missed hurricane-class winds. There were no physical signs of a hundred-plus ton dragon looking for me either.

I flexed my left hand and noticed that Lady Teldra had formed into a long rapier again. A right-handed rapier, so I moved the weapon to my right hand.

 _At least I'll die with a weapon in my hand._

That's when I heard the groaning noise, coming from where I had last seen Lung.

I sprinted across the shattered roadway, Lady Teldra in my right hand, vaulting cars and slabs of pavement in my hurry to get to that noise to kill Lung, if he was the one making that noise.

Jumping on top of an upside-down car that seemed to have been stepped on by Lung, I finally spotted the man making the groaning noises.

He saw me at the same time as I saw him. Dropping the shard of metal he had been using to dig into his chest, I watched him reach into the wound and drag out a grisly, bloody chunk of cloth and throw it to the ground with a stony thunk. Something shot out of the bloody mess like a bullet, startling me, but I couldn't take my eyes off Lung.

Slumping in relief, only for a moment, my enemy came to his feet. I could see that the self-inflicted wound was already fully healed.

"You cheated. I did not expect that." Lung reached down and picked up a head-sized chunk of concrete and threw it at me. I dodged it fairly easily.

"You should have." I responded as I carefully examined Lung and the surroundings, making sure I had a full understanding of the situation before I attacked.

Within two seconds of standing, he was nearly seven feet tall, and his skin was beginning to grow shin scales. Whatever had happened to him, his power was returning very rapidly.

Which didn't matter one damn bit, because with Lady Teldra in my hand, and him having skin I could pierce, he was a dead man.

I jumped off my perch on the crushed car, and rushed at him, striking towards his navel with Lady Teldra in my right hand. He was fast, but there was no way he was dodging me, while I was wielding Lady Teldra configured as my weapon of choice.

Just as Lady Teldra was about to pierce Lung's skin and consume his soul, my hand and arm simply stopped moving, less than two inches from Lung's stomach.

The immovable vice on my right arm had an extra joint on every finger, and the voice that spoke was weirdly doubled. "No, Vlad."


	28. Chapter 27 - Epilogue 1

"Yes, Verra." I opened my right hand, allowing Lady Teldra to fall, kicking the falling Great Weapon with my right foot, and grabbing her out of the air with my left hand.

By the time my left hand was gripping Lady Teldra, she had reshaped into a long dirk, and she was angry. Very. Very. Angry. Angrier than she had been when Valkyrie had trapped me in the Grey Boy bubble.

Lung fell to the ground and started to whimper in terror.

I heard screams and shouts as the Undersiders ran away.

Verra was still gripping my right hand, and staring at me eye-to-eye, trying to ignore Lady Teldra, whose point was an inch from her right eye.

She almost made me think she wasn't worried, but I saw a bead of sweat on her brow.

I did not allow her to make and hold eye to eye contact with me as she spoke. "I need him, Vlad. We need him."

Hissing in rage, I countered. "I need him dead. You don't know-"

Calmly, despite Godkiller being within an inch of her eye, held in my unrestricted left hand, the goddess shook her head. "You're wrong. I know exactly what he's done, and that's why we need him. Alive."

 _Boss, do you want-_

 _No._ I took a commanding tone, which I rarely used with Loiosh. _Stay back._

 _Boss-_

I interrupted before he could argue. _No. This is between me and her._

My voice whispered coldly, and Lady Teldra twitched fractionally closer to Verra's eye. "Are you telling me that you sent me here as a recruiter?"

"Partly. What time is it, Vlad?"

I reached out to the orb. "Seven forty two, Eastern Standard Time."

Verra raised an eyebrow at me, looking calm, like she had just made some sort of point.

That's when I realized what I'd done. There was an Imperial Orb in this world now. "You sent me here to create a new orb."

"Partly, and close enough."

"So why do you need him?" I kicked Lung, who had shrunk down to normal human size and was blubbering in incoherent fear.

Verra reached up with the hand that wasn't restraining me and appeared to grip something I couldn't see, next to her neck. "Dear, if you wouldn't mind, let Vlad see you. You are quite obvious to me. He might accidentally kill you if he moves Godkiller and doesn't know where you are. It would be a shame if this world's first Empress had her soul eaten by a Great Weapon less than five minutes after the orb selected her."

Imp appeared, her right hand with a blade in it, right next to Verra's throat, was gripped by the goddess. I also noticed her left hand was holding a taser jammed into Verra's bare waist. The taser was clicking loudly, but Verra didn't even appear to notice.

"Much better. Vlad, sheathe your weapon, please. You're highly upset, and so is Lady Teldra. You might do permanent mental harm to Lung here if you-"

I cut my eyes at the Imp illusion. "I'm not stupid, Verra. If Lung is like this, Imp-"

"No, not stupid. Just ignorant. You've never drawn a morganti weapon near an emperor or empress before. You wouldn't know that the Imperial Orb…" Verra paused with a slight smile "… an Imperial Orb makes the emperor or empress immune to morganti fear effects. Part of the purpose of the orb is to protect the ruler, no?"

I looked at Imp, and saw the Trellanstone orb circling her head.

What Verra had said had all seemed truthful so far, except one thing.

It was very hard, but I sheathed Lady Teldra in her sheathe under my left arm but kept my right hand on her hilt.

"Why do you need him?" I demanded.

"Three reasons. I'll even tell you the answers plainly. Just to show that I can." She raised a finger. "First, the Jenoine."

"Jenoine is a noun, not a reason."

"Let me finish then, Vlad. Be polite."

Imp struggled strongly, but couldn't even budge Verra's arm, or even get a reaction from the goddess. Then she coughed. "I'd like my arm back, please."

Verra shrugged, but didn't let go. "You also need to be more polite, young lady. You get your arm back when you take your device off of my body."

Imp pulled her taser away from Verra's waist, and Verra released Imp's hand with the knife in it.

Stepping back, Imp glowered. "I think I see why Vlad doesn't like you."

Ignoring the comment, Verra smiled brightly. "See, that wan't so hard, was it? Now we can talk like civilized beings. Where was I?"

"Jenoine." I grated, watching as Lung started shaking his head back and forth, slowly recovering from the Great Weapon fear effect.

"Oh, we need someone to take the fight to the Jenoine." She pointed at Lung, who was staring up at us, confused, but clearly growing more cogent and angry. "He needs a purpose worthy of his power."

I shook my head. "Ridiculous. One man, however powerful, against the Jenoine race? We tried to fight just a few of them with several Great Weapon wielders, and would have died. Even you were there."

Verra smiled, and this time, her teeth were sharp. "That's reason number two. He won't be alone. He's going to join House Dzur."

"You're going to have him petition to join House Dzur? Seventeen champions and-" I suddenly realized just how easily Lung could win seventeen fights against Dzur champions. Morganti weapons were not allowed in the trials. "Can I watch?"

"I will do no one's bidding but my own!" Lung leapt to his feet and struck at me.

I was expecting him to attack and had been watching for the move, so I dodged the blow, though it was close.

It was no surprise that Verra stopped him, since she didn't want me to kill him, but I was amazed by how she did it. Verra's hand moved so rapidly that it almost seemed to appear next to my head, gripping and instantly stopping Lung's hand like she had stopped my strike earlier. I'd been on the receiving end of a Lung punch when he was 'weak.' The strength required to stop a strike of that power the way she had just stopped Lung's punch was staggering. I had known Verra was strong, but even when I'd seen her fight once before, she hadn't demonstrated strength like Lung's.

While I was processing what that might mean, Verra spoke to Lung as he struggled to pull his fist out of Verra's grip. "No, Kenta, you will not interfere with my business. We will speak about this later when we discuss a path to glory for you. For now, go bathe and get dressed."

Lung disappeared. I recognized a teleportation signature. I also recognized, after Verra mentioned clothing, or Lung's lack thereof, that I was, once again naked.

Imp stared at Verra, wide-eyed, not blinking. "You just put Lung in timeout? He's going to be-"

"A bit upset, yes." Verra shrugged. "Dealing with angry mortals isn't anything new."

I sighed. "If you wouldn't mind?" I gestured at my waist.

"Yes I would mind. I appreciate the scenery." Verra smiled.

Imp laughed, though she covered her mouth with one hand and tried to hide it, or at least muffle it.

With no expression, Verra turned her head slightly to fix Imp with a look. "You will need to work on proper decorum, Aisha, if you want to rule this world. I'll send Aliera to work with you, I think."

Imp's mouth opened wide, and she managed to squeak out a single panicked-sounding word. "What?"

"Aliera? Verra, everyone here is an Easterner." I started to argue.

"True, so almost all of them are shorter than her. I'll have a chat with her."

I tried to think of a better idea, and made a different suggestion. "Why not Norathar? She worked with Cawti and doesn't consider Easterners to be barely human."

Verra shook her head. "My mind is made up. It's not just for Aisha, Vlad. I'm sure you recognize that Aliera needs to, ah, grow up a bit."

I raised my left hand, palm out, to Verra. "I did not hear you say that." Turning to Imp, I continued. "Neither did you. Aliera will go off like a bomb if you say that in her hearing. Guaranteed."

"Indeed. A good lesson in diplomacy already, though a bit rough around the edges." Verra chuckled like it was a joke that she was talking about sending the Great Weapon wielder with the least patience and self-control to teach diplomacy to an Easterner young enough to be my daughter.

"Is that reason three?" I asked.

"No, Imp has nothing to do with Lung." Verra shrugged. "Seems like an interesting outcome, and she has enough friends and people who are willing to work beside her to make it work as long as she is fair and just. Ruthless won't work with her peers. I liked the play on words too."

Imp raised a hand and poked at the orb circling her head. "This thing flew through Parian and Foil's shelter like a bullet and parked itself around my head. Before they ran off screaming, Tattletale looked at it and gibbered something. How did it-"

Verra nodded. "A good question. I needed to prime the orb with power from a powerful cape. Lung was a good first source of power, and useful for other reasons as well." After a pause, she continued. "From now on, anyone who has ever used sorcery, even just for telling time, who later develops a link to one of the dimensional entities will create a link between the entity and the orb. When they die, the orb will adopt the connection to the entity, and the entity will be prevented from attaching to another host. In a few hundred years, with very few exceptions, all cape powers will be extinct, their entities exclusively devoted to empowering the orb."

Imp stared, blinked, and stared some more. "No more powers?"

"You keep yours, until you die, then the entity that provided them to you is enslaved to the orb permanently, as a power source."

I hadn't allowed myself to become distracted. "So, what is reason number three?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" Verra arched her left eyebrow at me.

"You said you would tell all three reasons, clearly."

"I did. I did not say you would appreciate all the reasons."

"What's not to like? You're going to drop Lung into House Dzur which will be absolutely amazing. I want to watch that, if there's any possible way. Then you have plans to go after the Jenoine with him, which, I must admit, also sounds good. I don't even want him dead anymore if you are able to convince him to do those things."

Verra sighed. "If you insist." He voice grew quieter. "I think he's hot, and I won't break him by accident."


	29. Chapter 28 - Epilogue 2

**POV Tattletale**

While I was composing an email to Dragon, there was a clap outside my door. A look at one monitor confirmed my secretary was still alive. The monitor next to it showed me that there was a tall woman with odd eyes and extra knuckles next to my office door. I activated my power and spoke. "Come in. I've been expecting you."

The door opened, and Verra entered. "Good. I hope you understand that I have to do this."

I shook my head. "I'm not so sure about that, but from what I've pieced together from watching you and Vlad when you aren't trying to break my head, you don't want him to know, and I don't really have much choice in the matter."

Verra looked at me, and my head felt like it was going to explode, as she did something that my power severely objected to. "He can't know yet, and would reject it, leading to disaster. I think you suspected that, or you would have already spoken to him about it."

"He definitely seems to have a very strong opinion on the topic of gods." I put a bit of sharpness in my voice "Not without reason."

With a curt nod of her head, she agreed. "True. A child frequently does not appreciate being taught." The goddess smiled. "How many other people have you told, and where have you created records on the topic?"

My power went mad again, briefly, as Verra did something, then I found myself answering. "I have told Imp, Parian, Foil, and Bitch. I have placed three physical documents in storage at different safehouses, and sent four electronic, encrypted versions to dead drop email addresses."

I glared at Verra. "Some sort of reality modification? It feels like what Vlad did in his last fight with Lung."

She laughed gently. "That is a crude way of describing it, but accurate enough. I am exerting my will. If it makes you feel better, removing this knowledge from the world is really quite taxing. I am currently in eight places at the same time right now. Please provide me instructions as to how to access all records you created on the topic."

I was coerced again, and provided Verra with what she requested.

"Now, Tattletale, please invent a plausible reason for having conversations with your companions that I can substitute in their minds for the conversations you had about Vlad's nature."

With no choice in the matter, I complied.

I stared at Verra, angry at being mentally manhandled. "How bad would it really be to tell him? Vlad is not a mental weakling."

"No. Far from it. But if he learns at the wrong time how many lives he could have saved, as opposed to how many lives he is yet to save, he would likely use Lady Teldra, and help her earn her second name."

I shook my head. "Do you blame him? You have caused him a huge amount of pain that I know of, and based on how he speaks of gods, a lot that I've never heard of."

Verra shook her head. "You misunderstand. If he learns too soon, he would not use Lady Teldra on me, he would use her on himself."

I stared at her and this time, there was no pain. She was apparently allowing me to see that she believed with certainty what she said. This assumed, of course, that my power worked on a self-aware goddess when she wasn't exerting her will to change reality, which wasn't a sure thing. "Let's get this over with, Verra, I have things I need to be doing."

Leaning back in my chair, I kneaded my temples, trying to reduce the pain in my head by activating pressure points. It helped some.

I had been staring at the computer screen and considering my response to Dragon's email, in regards to Imp and her new orb, for nearly ten minutes.

 _Enough slacking. Time to get back to work._

I cracked my knuckles and then leaned back forward and started typing again.

 _Helping to arrange for Imp to be accepted as empress of this world is certainly a challenging prospect._


End file.
